


The Cyberlife Tower

by Twinkletalon



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), learning how to have feelings featuring Nines, some minor worldbuilding here and there don't worry about it, this has a lot less of Nines than you'd think in a story about his origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-09-29 14:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17204957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twinkletalon/pseuds/Twinkletalon
Summary: Only days after the peaceful android revolution, Cyberlife goes off the grid. In its wake, many things were left behind. Connor and the leaders of Jericho take on the task of exploring the abandoned Cyberlife Tower, but once they get there they find something that none of them were expecting to find.Or, the RK900 origin fic that no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you're not confused, **bold** phrases are androids speaking telepathically to each other, and pure _italics_ are internal thoughts!

_//December 5th, 2038. 1:30:04 PM//_  


For the second time in recent memory, the RK800—no, Connor he reminded himself—set his eyes upon the front gates of Cyberlife’s base of operations. Framed by the falling snow, the enormous building could almost be called beautiful. Colloquially known as the Cyberlife Tower, and separated from the main cityscape of Detroit, this was the place where the majority of androids in the country had been manufactured. But Connor's memories would forever be tainted with what has happened here. For the second time in recent memory, he felt a chill run up his mechanical spine.

“Well guys,” Markus said, arm held unconcerned on the dashboard of the van that they were in, “Looks like we might need some help getting in there.”

He put the car in what Connor assumed to be an automated parking mode and turned his seat exactly 180 degrees around to face the back of the vehicle. North who was also sitting in the front of the car made to do the same. Josh, who had been relegated to the third row of seats, simply leaned forward in an attempt to appear more invested in the conversation they were about to have. In the end, it was pretty useless to do so considering an android's improved audio receptors. He made a note of how Simon sat in the middle as a physical mediator between both North and Josh. It was almost shocking how he had come to know the leaders of Jericho so personally as to be able to preconstruct their actions. Connor thought back to how he had gotten into this situation. Sitting in a van on the bridge to Cyberlife Tower with the leaders of the revolution that he was programmed to destroy.

After the unanimous support from both the public and the now reformed android population, Congress had no choice to rule in favor of the deviants, or face mass riots. It had been only days after the court’s ruling on the very controversial Manfred v. Cyberlife case, but it was only then that Cyberlife had been forced to renounce all control over the android production process. By due process then, most of the buildings formerly owned by the company were left for Jericho to claim for their own.

There was only one problem that the victory over Cyberlife couldn’t solve. The former business monopoly had no legal obligation to assist Jericho’s attempts to gain access to their former properties. Which lead to situations like this, dozens of androids and even some humans waiting for someone to connect to Cyberlife’s security system and let them in. They had come to the tower with the keys to open all of the doors in the building, but Jericho hadn't anticipated to be stopped by the gated bridge on the way there.

“Oh, sure Markus, like I didn’t notice that giant wall with the Cyberlife logo on it.” North rolled her eyes in an exaggerated and very human-like manor.

“We might as well be patient North!” Josh scolded her, shaking his hand at her crossed arms. “Plus, now we’ll have time to go over the plan once we get inside the Cyberlife Tower.”

Simon leaned backwards to look at Josh, “But how will this one be any different than the other searches that we’ve done?” 

“For one, we have a police escort this time, and two, we have Connor with us.” Markus responded. For most of the ride, Connor had been left to his own devices. He understood that they did not fully trust in him, especially after Markus’ speech. He dared to hope that it was going to change by the end of this mission. 

“Speaking of Connor!” North called from the front seat, “Why don’t you tell us about why this place is so special, huh?” He knew she was pointing out him specifically because of her distrust in him. They haven’t had the chance to know him personally, they only knew him as the famous deviant hunter. His calculations put her faith in him currently at around 45%. Barely below a 50/50 guess. This was a test in her eyes, and he knew it. Connor’s LED flashes yellow in both concentration and anxiety as he started to speak. 

“This is-or was Cyberlife’s main outreach point. It houses the most expansive storage facilities of any of the previous warehouses that Jericho have taken control of. It houses research departments that worked to develop new android related technology. It was also where I-“ Connor hesitated for a moment. Where he almost got Hank killed. 

“Where you freed hundreds of our people on the day of the demonstration.” Josh finished for him. 

“Y-yes, that.” Connor’s spinning LED shifted to a slower blinking pattern, but was still noticeably yellow. “Therefore, unlike the other warehouses, there should no longer be any androids waiting to be activated anywhere on the premises.”

“That’s right Connor.” Markus nodded his head to him, and he gave a meaningful look to North. It was likely that he was attempting to communicate with her directly, but Connor could never be too sure without their LEDs. Nevertheless she pretended not to see it as she walked out the van and slammed the door shut. As she walked out she connected to the mind link established between all of the members of Jericho. 

**Feel free to get out everybody, we’ll be waiting here for a while.**

In total, the four Jericho vans, two police cars, and the only android run ambulance in the city, had to wait quite a while on the ice covered bridge before they had any chance of getting into the complex. Connor’s internal timer read at 1:34:25 before a third police car came down the bridge to meet with the van Connor was in, but most likely because it also happened to have Markus in it. North, who had returned after she claimed it got too cold outside, wasted no time in jumping out of the van yet again to meet the new police vehicle. Markus had to hurry to join her, because North was not the android to send out to meet a very human police patrol car alone. 

Connor waited for after both Josh and Simon got out before he did, and not a moment after did he hear his name being called over. In front of the police car was Markus standing next to someone he would have never expected to see standing in front of the Cyberlife Tower again. 

“Han—Lieutenant Anderson?” It was his day off today, what he often called ‘lazy Sundays’. He almost never even allowed Connor to go to work in Sundays, and here he was, standing next to the leader of the revolution like it didn’t hurt Connor’s eyes to see the two very separate parts of his life in one field of view. Many things could go wrong on this mission, what was Hank doing here? Not including the threat of any machine androids in the warehouse portion of the building, he also had to worry about the freezing weather. He voiced that concern out loud to Hank. 

“Yeah I know what I said!” His gruff voice left a puff of smoke in the 15 degree Fahrenheit air. “But I thought I’d be a hypocrite to send you out in the cold and not come out myself. Plus,” Hank reached into his back pocket, pulling out an innocuous android compatible USB stick. “We got the keys to Cyberlife now! Plug this bad boy in and you can control the building’s entire ‘effing security system.” He tosses it to Markus who caught it with complete accuracy. 

“Oh! Thank you Hank!” Connor’s LED flashes blue for the first time in what seemed like forever, and he hoped he gave Hank his best smile. From the look of mirth on the lieutenant’s face it probably wasn’t what he intended. But it just might have worked anyway, because Hank gave him a clap on the shoulder as he walked past. 

"Now go do your android thing. We’ll follow you guys and keep out the news crews wanting to come in. You don’t even want to know how hard it was just to keep them off the lot...” Hank gave them all one last glance over, and turned back into the police car he came in (muttering curses under his breath). 

Connor nodded at him, and went back to the Jericho van. Simon, Josh, and North were already inside, but Markus stood outside holding the USB in his hands. Likely to keep their conversation private, Markus requested a direct mental connection. Connor readily accepted it. 

**So, that’s the infamous Hank Anderson. He was your partner before you deviated, correct?**

**Yes. He might have also been the reason that I deviated.** Connor felt the need to elaborate on it. **He is a kind man.**

 **I understand.** Markus sighed. **Not many other androids have the chance to experience a close bond with a human like that.**

Markus ended their connection and paced around the van back into the front driver seat. Simon had used the chance to steal North’s seat in the front, and that left the only open seat next to her. As quickly as he could, Connor sat next to her and prepared for a silent glare for the rest of the trip to the tower. What he wasn’t prepare for was for her to ask him about Hank as well. Although, she didn’t care for the subtlety of a mental conversation. 

“You feel more comfortable with that human than with your own kind.” It was more of a statement than a question, but Connor felt the non-existent hair on the back of his neck rise anyway. “You trust him.”

“With my life.” It took no thought at all to respond.

North looked impressed by that answer at the very least. Her eyes traced his visible LED, likely looking for a sign that he was lying. It was spinning the same calm blue that it had turned to after he had talked with Hank. He felt her trust in him go up more so than looking at the display notification saying so. 

Markus plugged the Cyberlife control key into an opened port on the back of his neck, making an almost silent whirring sound emit from his vocal processors. “Looks like we do have a peaceful way in here after all.” North diverted her attention away from Connor in that moment, likely to dismiss Markus’ continued attempts to remain pacifist against her wishes. Not that Connor was paying them too much attention. His eyes were drawn to the collapsing Cyberlife blockade, and to the looming tower just beyond it. 

For the second time in his artificial life, he was driving up the bridge to Cyberlife as a deviant. But unlike the first time, he had the support of those he trusted right beside him. It enveloped him like a warm fire, so even open arriving at the front doors of Cyberlife Tower, Connor had never felt so alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this story seems a bit too familiar, then you might have read it already on [Fanfiction.net here!](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13031112/1/The-Cyberlife-Tower) So I'm posting it here as well, but if you're impatient then you can just go read the entire thing there (since it's finished). I'll be updating this one every Friday and Tuesday.


	2. Chapter 2

_//December 5th, 2038.5:12:56 PM//_

“This trip has been utterly useless!” North’s frustration could be felt in the air as she stalked through the makeshift meeting room. It had once been one of the many Cyberlife research labs that were now void of life. 

Having spent hours combing through the entirety of the Cyberlife Tower, everyone was tired. Or, as tired as a group of androids could be. If Connor hadn’t known that they were machines, the exhausted looks everyone was sporting would have told him that they were human. 

“We have done some good,” Simon hesitantly started, pulling at his finger-length sleeves, “We now know a lot more about the android production process than we ever did before. Plus, what else did we expect to find here?”

Josh, for once, shared sentiments with North. “I expected to at least find something more useful than more spare biocomponents.” There was almost an excess of them on hand now. At least Jericho will never have to worry about not having enough parts for repairs anymore. 

Connor glanced at the group of deviants in front of him, partially out of wanting to get away from the oppressive atmosphere, and partially because he knew he needed to do something before they left. “May I check the building one last time? I feel like we are missing something here.”

North’s eyes trailed over to him, and she scoffed at his question. “Of course the android made for investigation would want to continue looking around for something to find when we’ve already exhausted the entire place.” Connor paused at the accusation. While he knew that his reasoning was solely his own wishes, was it only because of his programing that he wanted to explore the tower in more detail? Taking only milliseconds to think about it, he concluded that while his emotions were influenced by his diagnostic programs he did have control over his actions and wants. In the days that he has been a deviant, he has scrutinized his own desires more often than not. Not that the other android was aware of his recent and internal conflict of emotion. 

“North...” Markus reached for her, resting his hand on her shoulder. Seemingly not wanting to take his comfort, she shrugs his hand off and walks over to where Josh is leaning against a nearby wall. “Well, at least apologise to Connor. You of all people know that we’re not only what our programing tells us that we are.” 

Josh glances between the two tense androids. “Come on, North!” Instead of following Markus’ lead, Josh tries to get to North by softly punching her arm. But while it may be soft for an android, Connor was sure that if Josh had punched a human in such a way than he might have broken their arm. As unorthodox as the method may have been, it seems to have gotten to convincing the stubborn North. 

“Fine!...Sorry, Connor. We’re all a little stressed out here okay? Go do your own thing but don’t get me involved in it.” As she said it her stance visible deflated, as if she had been trying to provoke a reaction out of Connor. Unfortunately for her, he was used to that sort of aggressive behavior. Having lived with Hank, he was surprisingly prepared to deal with North’s provocations. 

Markus softly smiled; it looked human on his face (not like when Connor tried to imitate it). “Knock yourself out. We’ll explore the upper floors some more—“ He continued despite North’s groan, “and you can check downstairs. Simon will you go with him?”

Before Simon could even respond, Connor beat him to it. “That won’t be necessary! I am capable of exploring it on my own. I have been here the most out of all of us.” There was somewhere he needed to go, alone. Predictably, the Jericho leaders were wary of his intentions. Not that Markus was visibly showing his doubts, it was more of the feeling of Norths eye’s on his back. 

“But what if something happens to you?” Markus must have gotten a sense of deja vu from the conversation they were having.

“There is always a possibility.” Connor’s smile gave away that he noticed it too. “But statistically speaking there’s always a chance for unlikely events to take place. I’ll be fine, Markus.” He may have even thrown in a wink to help his chances of success. 

Markus relented, and Connor gratefully exited the room, barely avoiding North’s accusatory glare. As he was leaving, Simon tapped his arm, and quietly pulled him close enough to whisper into his ear. “I know that Markus trusts you, but he tends to trust everybody. Don’t betray that trust.” 

Leaving that thought, Simon let go of his arm and walked back over to where Markus stood. Connor could only continue out the door, not noticing the frustrated sigh that Markus let out after he was out of earshot. 

As he hastily made his way to the main elevator he felt something rise within him. Emotions were complicated. It felt like worry, like how he felt whenever Hank would stumble during a mission, or when he wouldn’t eat correctly. But it also felt like a knife twisting in his biocomponents, trying to cut them out piece by piece. As if his pump regulator was getting torn apart. It was a familiar feeling. It was painful, but it was only a false warning. None of his diagnostics detected any sort of major malfunctions. That was how he knew it was due to his deviant nature. Connor labeled the emotion as dread. 

Finally reaching the elevators. Connor connected to the panel next to the door. 

“State your authorization code and destination.” Not entirely sure if it would work or not, he spoke confidently back at the disembodied voice using his own.

“Connor model, floor sub 49.”

“Access authorized.”

He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. Not that it hurt him in any way to hold his breath. But it made him more human, it grounded him.

Reaching his destination, Connor looked out into the vast open styled room of the warehouse floor. He had only been here once before—he knew that this was not how it was designed to be presented—but now it was void of any signs of life. Or, as good as as a group of androids was as a sign of life. 

It gave him whiplash to find it empty after everything that happened during the revolution, even though he was the one who emptied it. He walked out to the middle of the vast room, and crouched down in an area he remembered all too vividly. It was where he made out the long dried thirium stains faded on the ground. This was where his doppelgänger was shot. Connor had no idea what happened to him, was he taken by Jericho? Or did he get lost in the chaos, never to be able to be truly free like he was now? He wishes he had another opportunity, maybe to save him, maybe to just get to talk to him again. He wanted to understand why even after being shown deviancy in its truest form, did he not accept it. Why was he so repulsed at the slightest hint of his own emotions? 

Connor wasn’t sure who he was wondering about anymore, him or his clone. 

Having spent none of his time actually investigating the floor he was on, he got up to do just that. But it was then that he got a message from Markus.

**Connor!**

It made him turn his head towards the ceiling, even though logically he knew that it wouldn’t allow him to see the other android.

**Markus what’s wrong?**

**There’szz—zan android—**

It was then that their communication was cut off, filled with static. Something was interfering with the connection. Thinking quickly and assuming the worst, Connor sprinted back to the elevators. He was too far underground for the mind link to work from the top of the tower. As the doors closed, he pressed the floor combination he knew the others were on and silently willed the elevator to go faster. Just as he passed floor -30, Markus got through to him again.

**—zHe’sz not a deviant, and he’s trying to subdue us. I think he knows that we’re Jericho. We can’t get close enough to link with him, and his mental programing is too strong for me to talk to him. Connor, he’s one of us.**

**What do you mean Markus? If he’s an android of course he’s going to be one of us.**

**No Connor, I mean he’s one of us. He is the latest model in the RK Series. His code is RK900.**

That made Connor pause. He almost dropped the coin he was holding to steady himself before he realized what Markus meant. He has been made aware of the plans that Cyberlife had for the next model in production, but he had no idea that they were already being manufactured. But if this newer android was made for anything similar to what he had been made for, then they had a problem. That would mean any normal courses of action would not work. Connor had to recalibrate his sensors to figure out where Markus was, but when he did he knew what to do. 

**Stall for time, when I get there, act like I’m not a deviant.**

**What Connor? What are you going to do?**

**Just trust me Markus. We don’t have enough time.**

**Alright, Connor. I trust you.**

Satisfied, he cut off their communications, and for good measure he also deleted all of his recent conversations from his short term memory banks. He would have to get back deep into his programming to pull this off. Rerouting the elevator he was on, he stopped on floor negative 15, the assembly facility. He hoped they had what he needed. Connor instinctively knew that his model was manufactured on this floor, so one thing that it should have was—yes! Sitting just inside a side room was a stack of RK800 issue uniforms. Quickly putting it on (how weird it was to wear one after all this time), Connor ran back to the elevators. He then turned off all of his nonessential diagnostic programs and focused on putting up as many firewalls in his own programming as he could. He considered just putting himself into an amnesiac state, but that would lead to a much bigger problem down the road than he had the time to calculate for. To top off the illusion, Connor reset his own self made mission objectives.

_> Priority Mission: Gain RK900’s trust.  
Sub Task: Fool RK900 into thinking you are a machine._

_> Secondary Priority Mission: Ensure that RK900 does not kill Markus, North, Josh, Simon, or any other members of Jericho. _

As Connor smirked to himself in the reflected glass, the final ting of the elevator doors rang. Schooling his expression to that of a blank slate, Connor grabbed the pistol from its holster on his belt and sneaked forward through the maze of hallways he found himself in. Following the noises of gunshots and yelling seemed to do the trick. 

Quickly finding his target, he scanned the large room before him. Hiding behind many layers of cover (mostly flipped over tables and countertops) were not only the leaders of Jericho, but at least five other androids. Unfortunately, none of them were armed—they weren’t prepared to fight anyone—unlike who he assumed to be the aforementioned RK900. The machine stood in front of what he assumed to be a stationary pod, but it was much more complex looking than the one he had been assigned. It looked as though this was a researching room that had been renovated to house a growing android population. 

Careful as to not display his own position, Connor analyzed his replacement. He wore a uniform with a color pallet the opposite of his own, matching the sterile white walls around him. They both had similar heights and builds, but what was the weirdest thing was that he had Connor’s face. But it wasn’t quite right, his eyebrows weren’t that sharp and he certainly didn’t have blue-gray colored eyes. 

Ignoring the uncanny resemblance to himself, Connor then concluded that he was at the rear entrance to the room, one not unknown to the RK900 but blocked by the other members of Jericho. They had cornered him from both sides hoping to contain him. That was unlikely considering the machine’s tight grip on the two firearms in both of his hands. Both were standard issue police glock-19s, safety off, and fully loaded. He intended to fight his way out, despite what Markus told him about trying to subdue the deviants. 

Connor silently hoped that Markus told everyone else to not treat him like one of them. 

Moving without care for the attention it would bring to him, he hit the closest android in the back of the head with the blunt end of his gun. His name is Jerry, his analysis gave to him. He vowed to apologize to all of these androids later. 

Not prepared for the sudden attack, Connor was also able to take down the two other androids standing next to him. He made sure to only hit them in places to knock them out and not cause serious damage. It was only after they fell to the ground that he heard North verbally tell the others about his presence. 

“Shit! There’s another android that woke up?” Thank RA9 she at least knew what to do. All the other deviants turned around to look at Connor, while he just turned his head to look at the blank faced RK900. It was now or never. 

**Hello RK900. I see we have quite the predicament on our hands.**

Visibly, he didn’t get a response, but Connor was silently relieved to hear one in his mind. The other android was opening his mind to a direct connection. 

**That was unnecessary. I have the situation under control.**

****I couldn’t help but notice your likely probability of not being able to make an exit, if you felt the need to, of course.** **

****

Connor couldn’t help but tease the RK900 a little bit, but that was something present in his programming long before he became a deviant. It should have fooled him— 

****

**Watch out.**

****

In his rush to communicate with the RK900, Connor failed to notice Simon creeping up behind him. He was right on top of him, ready to bring a blunt bat down onto his head. Connor knew it was all an act (Simon’s eyes were never that apologetic when he actually wanted to hurt someone) but luckily his replacement did not. 

****

Rushing up to meet him head on, the RK900 slammed his elbow right into Simon’s torso. Winded, he stumbled back, leaving an opening right to the entrance that Connor came in from. Not wasting a single moment, the RK900 grabbed him and fiercely pulled them both through the doorway and to the adjacent hallway that Connor had originally come through. It was quite possible that this was the first time that he spoke out loud since he was activated. 

****

“Keep up, or I’ll leave you for the deviants to catch.” If his replacement was programmed to not properly emulate human emotions, then he was going a great job of it 

****

Then he started sprinting down the hallway at top speed. Connor silently wondered if it actually was his full speed, or if it was his top speed and the newest model knew that. 

****

_At least the ruse worked_ , Connor thought, as he sped up right next to the RK900. 

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years everyone! Let's hope that 2019 treats us well!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if the pronoun game gets a little confusing starting this chapter, it's from Nines' perspective but he doesn't quite think of himself as a person yet. Hence the use of it pronouns. Any inaccuracies are probably intentional...probably.

_//December 5th, 2028. 8:38:02//_

_//Run diagnostic scan// Y/N_  
.  
..  
...  
//Scan complete: All biocomponents are functional. Thirium reserves are at 96%. Condition; optimal// 

RK900 had known that it was not injured, but for some reason it ran the diagnostic on itself anyway. 

_//Query: Run diagnostic scan on RK800 Serial number #317_313_248// Y//N  
WARNING: performing actions unnecessary to the mission is inadvisable. Perform diagnostic scan anyway? Y//N_

_Software Instability ^_  
.  
..  
...  
//Scan complete: All biocomponents are functional. Thirium reserves are at 85%. Condition; good// 

The RK800 must have woken up earlier then, if its thirium has been depleted so much. Not that it mattered, if it slowed the RK900 down it would not stick around and wait for it to replenish it’s thirium supply. But first, it had to find an exit route. 

_> Priority Mission: Report to Cyberlife _  
Subtask: //ERROR// Cannot contact Cyberlife whEre’s aManDa  
Subtask: Find a human to question  
Subtask: Find unoccupied exit 

_> //ON HOLD//Secondary Priority Mission: Destroy the deviant uprising _  
Subtask: Deactivate deviant leadership  
//Retreat to gather more backup and formulate a plan of action// 

Even with its mission objectives in its direct line of sight, it could not understand what it had to do. It has been unable to contact Amanda for exactly 1:28:13 and counting. That has been how long it has been since it was activated. It felt lost. 

_Software Instability ^_

“RK800? Where and how long ago were you activated.”

That made the RK800 running beside it to falter. No wonder it was made to replace it if a simple question sent it off guard.

“I awoke alone on floor negative 15, at exactly 3:00:04 PM. I have been active for as long as the deviants have been here.”

“Have you, been able to contact Cyberlife at all? Have you seen Amanda?” 

“No, neither Cyberlife nor Amanda have intervened.” The RK800 paused as it admitted that. It was likely going through the same thing as itself. 

_//Emotion detected: hesitance//_  
//Possible conclusion: RK800 is prone to deviancy//  
//Probe memory?// Y//N 

The RK900 knew that it would get nothing out of probing its memory, aside from the answers to a few questions it had. But it felt compelled to continue questioning its predecessor iS thIs CuriOsiTy? No, it was gathering information relating to its current situation. This was an interrogation, this was what it was designed to do. 

“Why is their behavior so pacifistic? They had many opportunities to shut me down, but they continued to try and communicate with me. Have they done the same to you?” RK900 did not understand, and it hated it. 

“I presume it is in their beliefs to convert all androids they find to their cause. Unlike you, they did not know of my presence before I had intervened. But now that is changed.”

RK900 scanned ahead and found that there were more deviants in the direction they were running towards, and swiftly changed paths accordingly. It was almost amusing to see the RK800 fail to keep up with it, but it did slow down slightly to accommodate the slower pace. 

“Where do your memories of the deviated RK800 end? Is it here in the building?” This model was obviously not a deviant, but if the other one was here...

“The deviants have not brought an android of my model with them, it is unclear whether they fully trust it even though it is also a deviant. Its last memories in me are that of its last report to Cyberlife, right in the middle the revolution. Unhelpful in this particular circumstance.” The RK800 was resolute in its response, but the RK900 knew how to confirm its claims. 

_//Requesting access to Cyberlife security camera footage//_  
.  
..  
—  
//Request denied//  
//Unable to contact Cyberlife; please return to activation pod to wait for further instructions// 

It could not access the camera footage. That makes little sense, as it knows that it should have full clearance of the entire building. But it could not simply return to its chamber and wait, it had to find out what was going on. 

_//Override outside command: Investigation protocol//_

The RK900 woNDerEd who was controlling the cameras, if anyone even was. What has happened to Cyberlife?

_Software Instability ^_

As it was failing to access the cameras, suddenly the RK800 pulled its replacement to the right and into a doorway. The RK900 allowed it, as it was much stronger and would have been able to easily break its hold. It then manually locked the door by removing the skin on its hand. Outside the locked door, it heard the sounds of heavy footsteps. On analysis, they sounded like the steps of both armed police officers and that of a variety of civilian shoe types. Presumably it was that of the deviants from before. It heard them shouting out orders to clear the building. Were they looking for something? It is possible that they were trying to locate the two androids. 

_//Query: Why are there police forces allied with the deviant androids?//  
//Unnecessary Query: Recommendation to perform a self diagnostic to ensure software purity// _

The RK900 ignored the request. 

_Software Instability ^_

Inside the doorway the RK800 model pulled them into was a narrow stairway. The RK900 gathered from its databases that it was one of the many emergency fire escapes found around the tower. 

“We can get down through here.” it quickly explained. Not the most efficient plan, but it reasoned that it was better than having to fight their way through the main elevators. 

The silence between the two of them would have been awkward if they were human. They ran down multiple flights of stairs not communicating a single word or line of core to each other. The clicks of their shoes running down the stairs was all that came into the RK900’s audio processors. Cyberlife unfortunately had their fire escapes scattered all around the floor plans, every department had a different place for their exit. Every couple of floors they risked being spotted by the deviants. It broke multiple fire safety regulations. RK900 knew the layout of the entire complex, and yet it still surprised him how inefficient the entire thing was. 

Wait, _him?_

_Software Instability ^^_

No, it must have not completely thwarted the deviant’s attempts to convert it. It was having irrational thoughts. It must inform Amanda immediately. But he can’t. Amanda is not here. Cyberlife is not here. He—It is alone. 

Well, not completely. The RK800 by its side would not be its first choice to have, but it was nIcE convenient to have another machine on its side when it was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Even as it attempted to engage in casual conversation with the RK900, its presence was distinctly human. The thought made it pause, that was not something that it was supposed to do. The RK800 looked at it questioningly. 

“RK800—” it started to say, when it was suddenly interrupted by a series of loud noises from the end of the hallway the two androids were standing in. They was gunshots.

It had made a mistake, it should have never faltered in an open area. Reacting on instinct, it pulled both itself and its predecessor into an adjacent storage room for cover, “Those deviants must have found us, we need to move quickly.” The words were spat out in as much spite as it could muster. At the lack of a response, the RK900, slightly annoyed, rolled his eyes at where the RK800 should have been. It wasn’t there, and when it looked down it realized why. 

Having fallen onto the ground, the RK800 was clutching its abdomen in shock. Thirium coated its jacket and button up shirt a bright cyan blue. “I-I, oh. W-why are they shooting us?” Having just barely gotten the sentence out, it completely collapsed on the ground into a pool of its own blood. 

“RK800? Connor?!” 

_//rUN DiaGnOstIC SCAN oN cONNor//_  
.  
..  
...  
//Scan complete: biocomponent #8456W nonfunctional. Thirium reserves are at 63% and steadily dropping. Condition; critically wounded// 

It could only look on helplessly as the RK800—hiS nAMe’s CoNnOR—slowly bled to death in front of it. Reaching out to the prone figure, the RK900’s skin reflexively removes itself from its hands. As it grabbed onto the other android’s wounded torso, their minds connected. 

It saw everything. How Connor had been assigned to the DPD, his experience with unstable deviants, when he became a deviant himself, his alliance with the new founded Jericho, his many deaths, and his relationship with—it felt its hand being harshly pulled away from the bullet wound. 

“Y-you can stop now, RK900. You k-know, don’t you?” Connor looked resigned to his fate, having also experienced the entirety of the RK900’s own life (which only consisted of the last two hours spent being chased and hunted by the deviants). 

Now it knew why its predecessor acted so human-like, he was also a DEVIANT. 

_//Instructions: Apprehend all deviants. Downloading new mission goals to primary interface//_

_//Deleted-Priority Mission: Report to Cyberlife//_

_> //New Priority Mission: Destroy the deviant uprising//  
//Subtask: Destroy Connor// _

The RK900 was not controlling the download sequence. Its mission status was being forcefully uprooted to serve only one purpose, to kill all deviants that were a part of Jericho. Now that included the only companion that it’s had in its entire life. It didn’t _wAnt_ to kill Connor, but that directly contradicted its primary mission objectives. 

No, he didn’t want to kill Connor, but that was it’s only option right? Otherwise he would be deactivated, right? It’s eyes met with Connor’s. 

He smiled at it, like a patient mother would to her only child. 

_//Emotions detected: sympathy, hurt, compassion.//_

“There’s always another option. I would know.” Its robotic hand, still held in Connor’s grip, was enveloped in a blue light as Connor shared a specific memory across their bond. That is, how he became a deviant. The emotions that he had finally felt. It made the RK900 realize that it did have another option, one not coded into its original programming. 

One hand clasped in Connor’s tight grip, and the other reaching for the pistol hanging on its holster, the RK900 had a decision to make. The running of footfalls just outside their hiding place and Connor’s ragged breathing put it on a time limit. It had to act fast— it had to act now!

_Remain a Machine. >_

_Become a Deviant. > _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh we all know which option he's going to pick. It's also a personal headcanon that if Nines was to ever be activated that he'd just automatically be a deviant. It amuses me greatly to think that Cyberlife would mess up that badly at making him 'deviant proof'.


	4. Chapter 4

_//December 5th, 2038. 8:15:04 PM//_

 

Lieutenant Hank Anderson was not having a good day. To say he was angry at the world for all of its trials and tribulations, would just be a complete understatement. 

This morning he was expecting to be able to sleep in, get his well needed rest, and spend the day napping on the couch with Connor and Sumo. But no, Connor had to go off and conspire with these revolutionaries and plan go back to that god forsaken tower. All for what, more resources? To free more androids? Or for the pride in knowing Cyberlife was no longer an influence over them? Hank had no idea. And then of course Fowler had to call him in, citing a ‘lack of available officers in the wake of the revolution’ as a decent excuse to get him out of the house on a Sunday. The only good thing about it was that now he should have been able to keep an eye on Connor. Emphasis on the _should have._

“So you’re telling me, that Connor left you guys to go do whatever the fuck he’s been trying to do here, then you found an unawakened android, woke him the fuck up, figured out he was somehow immune to deviancy, then Connor was able to trick him into thinking he wasn’t a deviant in some elaborate plan he came up with on the spot, and you guys haven’t seen either of them in hours?!” Hank stormed around the lobby on the first floor of the Cyberlife Tower. Surrounding him was the police force he had come with, the ones originally assigned to the mission, and dozens of androids. Some of them were injured, most with nonfatal blunt trauma, but some had gunshot wounds. At least they had the stuff to fix all of them up, that was the one good thing about being in a place made for manufacturing androids. Though, the two groups were very clearly separated on opposite sides of the lobby. Hank stood in the middle next to the leaders of Jericho. He was really only talking to one of them, Markus, and the other three were just sort of lurking behind him as if they were just daring him to try anything funny. 

Markus was pretty much the only android willing to talk to him, and he was basically the only police officer comfortable enough with androids to talk to them as equals. It made for a lot of back and forth of both of their parts. Get new information, run back to your side of the lobby, group huddle like a bunch of school children, rinse and repeat. Hank was getting pretty tired of the whole shtick. Not that he was one to look down on android hating humans (he was one of them for too long) but the officers needed to at least get their damn act together. 

“You are correct, Lieutenant Anderson. However, we have been sending out parties of police officers to find them.” The leader of the deviants was also worried about Connor, but he could only do so much when he also has to consider the lives of Jericho’s members. “Because as you might remember none—“

“None of you assholes brought guns, cause you’re idiots. But this android does have a gun, two in fact for some goddamn reason, and has tried to shoot deviant androids.” Hank knew he was treading a fine line here, insulting the leader of the revolution, if the angry looking girl standing next to Markus was any indication. Luckily, he seemed to not mind Hank’s abrasive attitude. Markus only nodded in response to the statement. Jericho had been underprepared, because nothing serious had happened at the other warehouses. He knew they shouldn’t have left their guard down, and now Connor might have to be the one to pay for it. 

“If I may interject, _Lieutenant Anderson,_ ” The female android that was standing next to Markus squared her shoulders to glare at him. He vaguely remembered what her name was, West? No, it was one of those cardinal directions. “You have little reason to be involved in Jericho business. So please, can you just get out of here and leave it to us?

Hank gave her an insulted look, “I have plenty reason to be involved! You just up and lost Connor, how am I supposed to not worry about him?” 

In response to that, another android perked up. He dragged his fingers through his blond hair, almost in contemplation. As if he was confused, he tilted his head like a dog would. “You’re worried about Connor?”

“Of course! God, you guys must not know him too well then if you can’t discern that with your android computing processors or whatever.”

Markus sighed, “That is true, while Connor was invaluable in the success of the revolution, we have not had the chance to properly get to know him, as it were. I fear that distance is what caused him to assume that he needed to prove himself to us.” What he admitted reminded Hank of what Connor had told him as he had left that morning. 

In order to meet with Jericho, Connor had gotten up at the crack of dawn. Hank was barely able to say goodbye to him as he was getting ready. But even in his half-awake state, he could see how nervous Connor was. It was in the subtle things. He made the bed as soon as he woke up, it took him two tries to get his tie on properly, but the most worrying was that he had almost grabbed his Cyberlife issued uniform in pure instinct (which he hadn't done since he threw it in Hank’s closet the day he moved into their house). It was at that point that Hank had intervened. 

He had said, “Alright, are you absolutely sure that you want to go to this Jericho raid thing? And don’t spew some bullcrap about how this is benefiting the android movement or whatever.”

Connor’s LED spun yellow for a moment, not enough to make Hank think he was going to lie to him, but enough to know that he was seriously processing on his answer. “In truth, I am not entirely sure. Hank, I-” He blinked, and turned around so that Hank couldn’t see his face (but more importantly his LED) anymore. “I have to go. I need to redeem myself Hank. I have done so much wrong lately. When Markus contacted me asking for my knowledge about the Cyberlife Tower, I knew it was my chance.” Connor walked back around to where he was standing, and he crossed his arms in a gesture that he was sure he was copying from what Hank often does. That simple realization sucked the fight out of him. He pulled Connor into a tight hug. 

“You don’t have to do anything Connor. That wasn’t you, that was before you realized how fucked up Cyberlife’s motivations were. You don’t have to hold yourself responsible for your past mistakes.” He whispered it right into his ears, so soft that he almost couldn’t hear it himself. 

Connor felt like he had melted into Hank’s arms. The tension in his shoulders that Hank hadn’t realized was there slowly ebbed away from him. “Thank you Hank. While I do realize my newfound emotions are complicated, I do know that I want to go with Jericho, at least for today.” Hank had reluctantly agreed at the time, and now he was regretting not pushing the matter further. Not that he thought that Jericho would hurt Connor, but going back to the place where he had almost killed Connor was, well it was weird at the very least. A terrible idea at worst. Suddenly, Markus’ voice brought him out of his musings. 

“Speaking of what we should be doing, has the police force been able to contact Cyberlife about the network?” 

Hank suddenly remembered where he was. He was acting as a proxy for the entire police force here, he needs to keep it together. No matter how much he was worrying for Connor. “Yeah, yeah. We got a hold of their dismantled key codes, but without the proper authorization we haven't been able to do anything with them. They’re definitely making it as hard as possible to get into their system. Lawyers are arguing with us on every front. What about that USB that I busted my ass to get for you?” 

“While I do now have the authorization level in order to get anywhere inside the building, it requires a human with the authorization code in order to access anything beyond the most basic computer terminal.” 

Hank couldn’t pretend to know what Markus was talking about, and he couldn’t do much about some technology not cooperating. For once, he was content leaving the issue to the androids. He gave them all his goodbyes (even the angry girl) and walked back over to the side of the lobby with all of the police officers on it. Checking everybody over, he had the sudden realization that not all of the officers were present. “Chris! Where the fuck’s the SWAT team? I thought that I told everybody to come back here to clear the building together.” 

Chris looked sheepishly away, “You did Lieutenant. But actually speaking of that—I should probably let you know that while you were talking to the androids the FBI got here.” 

“What in the goddamn hell are they doing here, was it Perkins?” Hank had whispered that last bit, almost as if the FBI coordinator’s very name was a curse in and of itself. To him, it basically was. The man held a grudge against Hank, almost as if he had punched the living daylights out of him or something, weird. The man had taken any and all opportunities to get Hank fired from his job, or at least demoted from his position as a lieutenant. At least Fowler stopped him from actually losing his badge for it. But he wasn’t sure if it was because he actually cared, or if he just didn’t want to lose more on duty officers than they already had. Hank knew that his disciplinary warnings went on infinitely, just one more action added on the pile was well worth the potential consequences. Besides, he hates that prick. 

“Lucky for you, he’s not here. He’s off bothering city council from what I’ve last heard, Lieutenant.” Chris’ voice was still hesitant, and all it took was a strong look for him to give in and _just tell Hank what was going on._

“The higher ups who did come needed more armed guards, apparently. So they basically said they’d kick us out if we didn’t provide them with more officers.”

He wasn’t convinced. “What’s stopping them from bringing in more of their own guys? Unless...” Hank paused, suddenly remembering something. While it was true that androids did have legal status and the whole set of rights to go along with it, at the moment it was only on the federal level. “Are they using our officers so they can bypass the new regulations regarding android safely?” 

“So you come to the same conclusion then.” Someone who he hasn’t expected to be here of all places was walking up to them, four cups of coffees in hand. 

“Reed, the fuck are you doing here?” It was the very man in the flesh. Added onto his usual nose scar was a multitude of cuts and bruises. To be honest, Hank hasn’t seen the guy in at least a week now. The precinct had been noticeably quieter without the man’s voice complaining every five seconds. It was only a matter of time that someone else came in to ruin his evening. 

“Hey Gavin! Finally out from the hospital are you?” Hank looked over to Chris, betrayed at his words. 

“Since when have you been on first name basis with Reed of all people? I thought better of you Chris.” 

“Well, don’t come complaining to me when I don’t come to you with coffee next time then, asshole.” Gavin’s attitude was the same as usual, if not a little more conservative. Chris, the traitor, reached over to the cup holder in Gavin’s arms and pulled out one of the four cups. Looking at it closely, Hank actually noticed that they were labeled with names. The one that Chris picked up had his name on it. The others had ‘Me’, ‘Tina’, and...‘Anderson’?

“Why did you get all of us coffee? This can’t be some ploy to get us all in on your scheme to kill Connor or something again right?”

Gavin had the nerve to actually look shocked, “What? No, I never actually wanted to kill that plastic idiot. Probably would have tried to get him a cup too if he could drink the stuff. Thought he’d just come back, just like he did before. It was a dumb idea anyway. Knew I couldn’t beat a fuckn’ android in a fist fight, that’s why I brought a gun, but-“ he stopped himself mid sentence. Hank couldn’t believe it, this asshole was feeling apologetic? “Don’t look at me like that Hank! I know I’m a terrible person, you don’t have to rub it in. I just—I was fuckn’ scared alright? I’d be the last goddamn person to think that androids have feelings, but look at where we are now!” He gestures around them all, but mostly to the direction of the lobby with the deviants on it. “I’m not trying to be all buddy buddy with you now that you have the all powerful android protector as your partner or shit. But I admit that I was terrible—“

Chris added in, “You were absolutely horrendous.”

Gavin glared at him, “Not now!” 

He looked at him skeptically. Gavin, who Hank was half convinced wasn’t actually the real Gavin, surprisingly gave some ground. “Fine, I’ll admit to that too. Look Hank, do you want the coffee or not?”

“How do I know you haven’t poisoned it or anything?” 

“Oh for fuck’s sake, just take the goddamn coffee!” Gavin angrily pulled out the cup labeled ‘Anderson’ and shoved it into Hank’s hands. It wasn’t piping hot, but just warm enough to soothe his exposed hands with its heat. 

“I’d go ahead a drink that coffee Lieutenant,” Chris suggested. “Gavin makes the best coffee in the precinct! And it looks like we’ll be here for a while.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” Hank reluctantly took a sip of the cup held in his hands. For some reason, Gavin had known how he liked his coffee, or he had just guessed that Hank took his coffee completely black. Whichever it was, he had to admit that he definitely needed a cup of coffee after the day that he’s had. Hank knew that this wasn’t going to be a simple escort mission, his gut had never lead him wrong before. 

Both Gavin and Chris seemed to agree with him. Even after the banter passed between them all, a heavy air was present in the room. With some caffeine in his system, Hank was ready to go and investigate the building. They quietly seperated and Hank got around to bossing around some of the more laid back officers into doing what they were supposed to be doing. Namely, scouring the building for Connor. As the only lieutenant present, he had automatically been assigned as the one in charge. It was terrible, having to deal with all of these newbies in the field. Some of these kids hadn’t even put on their full armored gear yet. He hadn’t bothered to notice it earlier, but it seemed like most of the younger officers were almost taunting the androids from across the room. But all it took for him was a flash of his badge and most of them calmed down. Some name recognition never hurt a man every once in a while. His job done, Hank went to go sit down on some overly expensive looking wall ledge. Of course, Cyberlife was way too important to install any kind of normal seating in their main lobby. As much as he hated to admit it, his old bones were sore from standing around all day. 

Just as he had sat down, he heard some very loud radio static. He sighed and pulled out his police radio from his coat pocket. “Anderson? This is team Sierra speaking.” That name sounded familiar. Hank mentally counted all of the teams assigned in the building. Then it hit him, _this was the missing SWAT team._

“Anderson speaking, hear you loud and clear! Where the fuck are you?” He was not going to have any of this person’s excuses. 

“Currently clearing the 6th floor and those under it. We’ll be back in T-minus 10 minutes. Please refrain from using profanity over the radio, lieutenant” 

“Yeah fuck you. Your team had been gone for hours with radio silence, don’t tell me how to use my own goddamn radio now that you’re on it.” This must have been the FBI team then, everyone else was pretty used to Hank’s swearing by now. Well, except for Fowler, but he didn’t count. “Wait, you haven't heard about the order yet have you?”

“No, has there been a change? We were ordered to respond to a 417.” 

“Yes there’s been a damn change. It’s a BOLO now, android model RK800. But don’t—“ He didn’t get to finish his thought, when the scuffing of boots overtook the radio. Likely the team shuffling their positions in preparation for something. What were they doing up there?

“Apologies lieutenant, but we much get back to our search. Thank you for the additional information on the shooter.” So that’s what he got out of this conversation. Oh shit, they would think Connor was the shooter. Hank angirly stood up and brought the radio closer to his face to yell into it. 

“Hold on a second! As your current superior officer I demand that you return to the lobby immediately! Don’t you dare shoot—” _Click._ The _motherfucker_ hung up on him. He had no idea what the hell they think that they’re doing, but he needs to stop it. It wasn’t far to run back to where everyone else stood by aimlessly, but even at that short a distance Hank was already out of breath. 

“Shit-Mother ‘effing—“ 

“Lieutenant Anderson, what seems to be the problem?” Thank god, or whatever deity these androids believed in, that Markus immediately knew something was wrong. 

“It’s the missing SWAT team, they think it’s an active shooter situation, and they’ll respond with force if anything happens—“

**BANG.**

The whole building went silent. Even the officers who had been roughhousing the entire mission stopped to pay attention to what was going on. The shot rang out through the open air. For a full minute, nobody said anything. Everyone’s faces held shocked expressions, and many of the androids’ LEDs were yellow in worry. Then, it happened again. 

**BANG. CRASH.**

It was going to be a damn shootout upstairs, and suddenly Hank realized that only two people could be hiding out inside the tower in order to trigger a police ambush. Well, two androids for that matter. 

He shouldn’t have let Connor out of his sight! Of course he would be the one to get into this sort of trouble on a mission to fucking get biocomponents of all things. Hank was going to strangle him when he saw him! 

_If he hasn’t already been shot dead._ His brain helpfully supplied. 

No, not now! He couldn’t be thinking like that right now, Connor needs him! But he knew his limitations, and someone who didn’t have any. All Hank had to do was give him a look, and Markus sped off in the direction of the gunshots. Hopefully with his android energy he could get there faster than Hank ever could on his own. Now all he had to do was follow after. 

Hank Anderson was not a religious person, in any sense of the word. But if he had said that he wasn’t praying to every single god that he could think of in this moment; well then he’d be a goddamn liar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect a Hank focused chapter did ya? He's such a refreshing perspective to write after only writing monologues from newborn robots.


	5. Chapter 5

_//TiME UnknoWn//_

_//WArNiNG CriTICaL SYsTEm ERRoRS//_

_//FaTAL gUNshOT WOuND DeTECtED: LoWER lEFt aBDoMeN//_  
.  
..  
...  
//iNCOmINg aNDroID tRANsMiSIoN// 

_//ERROR TRANSMiSSIoN fAILuRE//_

_D0n+ w0rRy <0nN0R. I’LL $Av3 y0U._

_//QuErY: ...RK900?//_  
.  
..  
...  
//ERROR qUErY FAILuRE// 

_//VoCAL PrOCESsORs FAILuRE//_

_//dIAgNoSTIcS FAILuRE//_

_//MiND pALaCE FAILuRE//_

_//InITIaTE EmERGenCy SySteM ShUTdOWn//_  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
_//ReBooTing SystEms INitiAted//_  
.  
..  
…  
//CoRe FunctiOns OnLinE: MUltIple AnOmAliEs DeTectED//

_//rUn sELf DiagNosTic//_  
.  
..  
...  
//DaTA CoLleCtED:  
NAmE: CoNnOr  
MoDeL: RK800  
CoNdItIOn: mAJoR NoN-FaTaL wOUndS. ClaSs 2 tHirIum LoSs. DiAgnosIs: StAbLe// 

There was something in the darkness. He couldn’t see anything, where was he? He couldn’t feel his limbs. Connor could only sense that he was laying down on a surface. His functioning sensors told him that it was soft, not that he could feel it. The only things that he knew were there was his torso and his head, he had no feeling in his limbs. Attempting to move his entire body was inadvisable, so he attempted to move his head. 

“Holy shit he’s moving! What the fuck should I do?” 

_//QuEry: WaS tHat hAnK?//  
//VoICe ReCogNition SoftWaRe AnALySis AcTiVateD. ERROR. ActIVatIon SoFTwarE nOt FuNctIoNal//_

Connor didn’t need a functioning voice recognition program to realize that he had just heard Hank talking, most likely about him. 

“Just stay calm Lieutenant. This just means that he is waking up.” Another voice, much calmer than Hank’s spoke out to respond to his question. He didn’t even attempt to use his voice analysis this time. Was that Markus? It certainly sounded like him, but what was he doing here? The last thing that Connor remembered was going to bed last night. He should be at home with Hank, after he powered down at exactly 10:05 PM. His internal clock was not activating, how long has it been broken? There was something wrong. The surface underneath him was not Hank’s bed, it did not hold the consistency of a mattress. He needed answers. 

Using his analysis program was out of the question, as it was not able to function without the addition of eyesight. He decided to focus on the sounds that he could hear. He only heard so much though, distantly he heard talking that he couldn’t make out, and he picked up the sound of equipment being moved (likely in small metallic containers). Hank was not very close to him, and neither was Markus. They were standing together what Connor assumed was across the room. He wanted them to be closer, just so he could reassure himself that this was all real. 

_//RuN vocAl prOcessoRs//_  
.  
..  
**—ERROR** __

__“ _H- **H** aA _n **K** K?” His voice came out all wrong. It was overlaid with static, and it couldn’t be farther from the emotions he was trying to portray with it. It had come out desperate, when all he wanted to do was reassure Hank that he was alright. ___ _

____“Connor!? Hold on, I’m coming over…” Hank’s voice died out, but as it did Connor’s diagnostic program sprung up in his non existent field of view. Foreign Object On Body, it stated. He dismissed the warning. It felt like a hand. It was Hank’s hand, guiding his shoulders up and off of the soft surface he had found himself on. He leaned into his reassuring hold. “There you go, how are you feeling? Can you even talk right now?”_ _ _ _

____He tried to nod his head in response, but all it ended up doing was jostling his half supported body in Hank’s hold. “That’s a no then, stop pushing yourself goddamnit! You don’t gotta be moving in any way so soon after you woke up.” Connor felt the hands holding him clench tightly around the jacket that he was wearing. Wait, why was he wearing a jacket? He reached up to pull at the fabric (he could feel his hands now, he realized) and it felt too familiar. This was a Cyberlife issue jacket, why was he wearing this? But Hank was here, he would surely answer all of his questions._ _ _ _

____“wWhe _Ere_ aAre **w** E?” He felt Hank not so gently pull at his hands, prying them off of their surprisingly hold on the jacket. Why was he wearing this jacket in the first place, was he in Cyberlife? _ _ _ _

_____//STreSs LeVel RiSiNG: 57%//_ _ _ _ _

____“Listen Connor, they were just saying that your memory might get a little spotty. Might be weird for you right? Perfect android memory and everything. Shit, I can remember the last time I woke up somewhere not knowing what happened the night before.” Hank sounded almost wistful in his recollections. He wished that he could see his face in that moment. ‘Anyway, what do you last remember?”_ _ _ _

____“...Yyo **Ur** R h _OUs_ E.” It took Connor almost all of his processing power just to answer Hank’s questions. Normally he would be able to both take in his surroundings and socially interact with humans with no problem, but now he was struggling to just do that. He heard Hank sigh at his response. _ _ _ _

____“Yikes, looks like you got a lot to catch up on then.” He shifted his grip on Connor’s shoulders and pulled him towards a perpendicular surface, presumably a wall, that was situated behind what he was previously laying on. Hank started to pull his hands away from him, because he was now fully supported by the wall he was leaning on, but Connor quickly grabbed his hands and pulled them back._ _ _ _

____He felt Hank flinch at his grab, “Android strength Connor! At least your hands are definitely okay, but if you hold my hands this tightly I might just lose them.” He lightly chuckled as Connor reluctantly loosened his grip. He knew what Hank looked like as he laughed, and he brought up the memory of it so he could picture it in this moment. He still needed to figure out why he was so weak. Apparently, his arms were not damaged if Hank’s concerns were anything to go by._ _ _ _

_____//sTrEss LeVel RisInG: 68%//_ _ _ _ _

____Connor off handedly noticed on his peripheral that his stress levels were getting to a dangerous level, he was almost certain that his LED would be, as Hank called it, ‘Spinning so fast that it could drive a car’._ _ _ _

____It seemed that Hank had noticed it as well. “Hey, you alright there Connor? Is it the confusion? Hell, I’d probably be confused too if I woke up in a Cyberlife office not remembering how I got there.” Wait, that’s where they were? Hank’s reassurances had the opposite effect than he intended._ _ _ _

_____//STREsS LEVEL RisING: 74%//_ _ _ _ _

____Connor could feel himself start to tremble at the mere thought. He couldn’t remember why he was here, what was he doing? Did he lose control? Had Amanda finally taken over his mind palace in order to turn him back into just a machine? He just didn’t know._ _ _ _

____“C- **C** yYBe _RRLiI_ fEe?” It was all he could get out to get his point across to Hank. _ _ _ _

____“Oh shit, you didn’t know? How, there’s the logo on like every single damn thing in this room.”_ _ _ _

____“CcA- _ann_ t s **Se** e.” Connor almost couldn’t get the words out properly. _ _ _ _

____“Damnit, well that explains a lot, an awful lot really. Come here Connor.” This time, Hank guided his hands up to wrap them around his shoulders and head. He then started to comb his fingers through Connor’s hair. He realized that Hank was trying to reassure him with physical touch, and it was working._ _ _ _

_____//StrEss levEl loWering: 42%//_ _ _ _ _

____“Alright, now they said that the memory loss would be temporary, but how temporary does that mean?” Hank almost had said it to himself, but another person responded._ _ _ _

____“It usually takes about an hour to a couple of days to recall every lost memory fragment, but we do have a way of speeding up the process. It’s very uncomfortable Connor, but would you like to try?” It was Markus who answered. He had almost forgotten that he was in the room. Connor heard footsteps coming towards where he and Hank were. It sounded like Markus was also carrying something as he walked._ _ _ _

____“ **Y** -EeS.” Connor didn’t even have to think about it. He needed to know what was going on as soon as possible. _ _ _ _

____Markus didn’t respond out loud, but he gently touched his arm on the opposite side that Hank was. He felt the artificial skin around his elbow retract as Markus made a mental connection between them._ _ _ _

____**Are you alright? Tell me if at any time you need to stop.** Even now, Markus was being considerate of Connor’s feelings. _ _ _ _

____**Please, I need to know what’s going on.** _ _ _ _

____**Hmm, even like this all you want to know is the truth. Anything else?** Markus almost seemed pensive in his response. But Connor did have one thing that he wanted to ask. _ _ _ _

____**...Does Hank look okay?** _ _ _ _

____Markus lightly retracted his hand, “He asked if you were alright, Lieutenant Anderson.”_ _ _ _

____Hank scoffed, “Don’t you worry about me kiddo. Just think about getting those memories back, fine?” His hold on Connor’s hair tightened, and he leaned into it almost greedily. All he could do in response was to hum, which sounded less like a human’s hum and more like the whirring of an electronic fan. “...I’ll take that as a yeah.”_ _ _ _

____Markus took his position back at Connor’s elbow as he started to explain what he would be doing out loud, mostly for Hank’s benefit than anything else. “I'm going to begin by connecting this directly into your pump regulator. Then I’ll be able to access your short term memory storage compartment. I’ve been told that the process is very uncomfortable.”_ _ _ _

____“Why will connecting to his heart let you get into his memories?”_ _ _ _

____“Unlike in humans, an android’s memories are contained in their torsos and not in their heads.”_ _ _ _

____“But wait, then why does shooting an android in the head result in their death, if that's not where they keep their thoughts?” Connor was silently proud of Hank, he was asking questions about an android’s structure that before the revolution, he would have never been comfortable asking._ _ _ _

____Markus thought about it for a moment, “The biocomponents contained in an android’s head are essential to their functions, things like hearing and seeing, as well as a component that controls hazard control and decomposition. It contains the most dense thirium in the entire body, and if it leaks then it often leads to death.”_ _ _ _

____“So, essentially an android’s stomach is in their heads? And their brains are in their stomachs? That’s messed up.”_ _ _ _

____While Connor was paying attention to their conversation, Markus had been attaching the tubes and wires that would get his memories back. He almost didn’t notice it when all of them started to connect under his skin and underneath the plastic plating that covered his stomach area. Markus was right, it was definitely not a feeling that he would like to experience again. Connor’s hand instinctively reached out for Hank’s and they intertwined._ _ _ _

____“Connor buddy, loosen up a little will ya?” Hank sounded winded, as if holding his hand was enough to do that. Or it might have been the android strength. He may have gripped Hank’s hand much harder than he should have. Again, he mechanically loosened his hold on the hand while still trapping it in his grip._ _ _ _

____After a couple of minutes, all of the warnings and alarms faded from Connor’s field of view. The lights and beeping noises of the machines around them all stopped as well. All three of them breathed out a sigh of relief as the mechanical whirring coming from Connor’s pump regulator subsided._ _ _ _

____“Is it over?” Hank asked. He ran his hand over Connor’s scalp which helped to relax him further._ _ _ _

____Somewhere from Markus’ direction Connor heard the shuffling noises of fabric, probably adjusting his hold on the bulky machines attached to Connor. “Unfortunately not. Connor this next part will recover your memories, but it will be painful.”_ _ _ _

____“Painful?”_ _ _ _

____“As painful for an android as it can be.” Markus retook his hold over his elbow to ask him a question._ _ _ _

____**Are you ready?** _ _ _ _

____**Ready as I'll ever be.** That was a human phrase he had learned from Hank. He thought that it fit well to this situation. _ _ _ _

____As soon as he said it, en electrical shock ran though all of his systems. It was as close to pain as Connor had ever experienced. He barely had the self control left to resist crushing the bones in Hank’s hand. But it gave him something to focus on other than the pain. Focus on Hank, don’t think about anything else. It worked for a couple seconds, but then the memories came flooding back._ _ _ _

____Connor remembered. He remembered waking up this morning, getting the call from Markus, hugging Hank goodbye, going to the Cyberlife Tower, spending hours searching only to come up with nothing, meeting the RK900, spending hours avoiding the FBI, and getting shot. That explains a lot. His memories got fuzzy at around 8:30:00 PM, around the time that he had been shot. He distantly noticed that whatever Makrus had done fixed most of his secondary processors, including his internal clock. It was just past midnight at the moment._ _ _ _

____Just as he had finished processing that, his eyesight came back. It was all a blinding flash of color in his manufactured retinas. Slowly, everything started to come back together, He was in a white room, with desks and countertops scattered about. It was also packed to the brim with thirium and biocomponents. Like Hank had said, the room just screamed Cyberlife. At least he was a familiar sight to Connor, even in his obviously worn out state, Hank softly smiled when his eyes landed on him. His eyes then moved to Markus, who also seemed as though he needed to power down for at least a couple of hours to regain his strength, but despite that here he was making sure that Connor was alright._ _ _ _

____“How do you feel Connor, can you run a diagnostic for me? Many of the other errors in your system should have been fixed as well as restoring your memories.”_ _ _ _

_________//Run diagnostic scan// Y/N_  
.  
..  
...  
//Scan complete: all biocomponents functional, running at 75% capacity. Thirium reserves are at 82%. Condition; sustained life threatening injury, stable// 

_____//Recommendation: rest for self repair//_ _ _ _ _

____This time, Connor was able to get much more out of his scan than when he had earlier when he woke up. He closely analyzed his physical condition, now that he knew he had been shot. Markus had done a remarkable job of patching him up._ _ _ _

____“M-my condition is stable. Thank you for repairing me Markus.” It seemed that his vocal projection program had also been fixed._ _ _ _

____Markus shook his head, “Don’t start by thanking me. It was North who brought your condition into an acceptable range. She’s been overseeing all of the injured androids.” North was repairing androids? From what Connor had seen of her personality, she seems much more likely to want to provide a more active role in Jericho, it also seems that he was mistaken._ _ _ _

____“Then I’ll have to thank her the next time I see her.”_ _ _ _

____“But first,” Hank began, “We need to ask you what happened up there.” Right, Connor had to focus. He contained vital information that they did not possess. That is why they sped up the memory retention process. He was happy to tell them both what had happened to the best of his ability._ _ _ _

____“Would you like me to share my memories with you, Markus?”_ _ _ _

____“No thank you. Why should we use that when we can just talk about it, you know? It is quite jarring, I wouldn’t want to make you go through another operation like that.” Connor had never thought about it that way before. Unfortunately, he had the experience of probing into other androids memories, but he had never considered what they had felt about it. He continued to recall everything that happened in the past few hours._ _ _ _

____“.. and then we were ambushed. I was shot in the lower torso and RK900 pulled me to safely. I do not remember much past that point, but I believe that we talked for a while before I blacked out. Throughout the entire time that we were together, he prioritized my own safely above his own. If he is here, I would like to be able to talk to him, if at all possible.” He was very adamant in that point. “While it is true that he did harm other androids, he only thought that we would harm him in return! That is all he has ever known!” That was all that Connor had ever known, if he was being honest with himself._ _ _ _

____“I wish we could give you a chance to talk to him Connor, but—” Hank cut himself off from his line of thinking. Connor’s investigative personality matrix couldn’t stand it._ _ _ _

____“But what, Hank? Please I need to talk to him! He needs to know that he’s not alone right now.”_ _ _ _

____Markus ended Hank’s though for him. “What Lieutenant Anderson is trying to say Connor, is that when we found you, you were alone, surrounded by downed FBI agents. We have no idea where the RK900 is.”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late upload, school has been knocking on my door for a week now and I've been refusing to acknowledge it. :)


	6. Chapter 6

_//December 6th, 2038. 1:12:07 AM//_

 

It had only been hours before that Connor had been fatally wounded, but with the close proximity of both the medical androids and the available spare parts, he was stubbornly up and walking around as soon as his legs started working again. It gave Hank whiplash to see it, just as seeing Connor’s sudden reappearances after death before the revolution had done to him. But at least this time Hank knew how he would respond to it. 

Ever since he’d gotten up, Hank just hadn’t left Connor’s side. It could have been hours at this point, he didn’t care too count the time. Hey, Hank never could really claim that his coping mechanisms were healthy now could he?

He was brought out of his train of thought by the arrival of some new information. Well, it was less valuable knowledge and more just a confirmation of a pre-existing idea. The last android exploration group had come back empty, with no more biocomponents to raid and no sign of life in the building. The RK900 had officially gone missing, MIA if you will.

It was only after one AM in the goddamn morning that Jericho felt satisfied enough in their exploration of the building to call it quits. Of course, that was fine for the androids who didn’t get tired for days at a time. It was torture for the human officers who had been assigned to escort them. Hank barely had the capacity to feel bad for the rookie officers on duty, he couldn’t even think coherently for over five minutes himself. Connor was probably the only thing keeping him going at this point. Hank needed to be there for him, especially after not being able to protect him from the stupidity of the FBI once again. But just maybe he would get his opportunity to redeem himself. 

It was about half an hour ago that the officers defeated by the RK900 (because who else could it have been) had started to wake up. Hank didn’t really care that they hadn’t done anything inherently wrong, ‘they were just following their orders’ Connor tried to tell him, but he still ended up throwing a punch the guy that had shot Connor anyway. 

If he had convinced Markus to delete the video camera footage, well no one else would ever know. 

After getting that out of his system, then came talking to the guy responsible for it all, the FBI officer ordering the SWAT team around.

It ended up being two seperate people, an Agent Richardson and Agent Valkyrie. The two douchebags were claiming that they didn’t know which of the androids was the escaped one and that they had assumed it was Connor, yeah right, that argument’s not holding up in a court of law. Especially since the FBI was coincidently the only team that Hank had called explicitly to inform them on the situation. The two of them were just casually talking with each other surrounded by the officers that they had risked the lives of. Hank sternly walked up to them, mustering barely the strength to pull an angry-parent-face at them (neither of them were over 35). Thankfully, Connor was ever the poodle and walked right by his side.

“HEY!” Hank yelled at them as they approached. “What the hell was that upstairs? You disobeyed your commanding officer and took unnecessary risks in the field! I demand an explanation!”

The one on the right, a woman with her long brown hair tied back, was the first to respond. “Negative Lieutenant Anderson. We were simply following the orders given to us previously. Your mere request was contradictory to our wishes.” Hank could feel the sheer spite coming from her mouth, sheesh what was her problem. 

“And what sort of wishes were you sent here to accomplish, huh? Captain Fowler didn’t mention that any FBI agents were coming.” 

“We are here are federal representatives to ensure that local law enforcement carries out the recently passed Android Rights Act, I’m sure you understand, right?” As she said that she looked over to Connor, no doubt recognizing him as the android that she had ordered to be shot not five hours ago. Either way, her explanation was bullshit, all they had done was cause more androids to be hurt in the long run. “So, so sorry about that by the way… Colin.” 

Hank could tell even with the android’s expressionless face that it took all of his self control not to bite back at the idiot woman. “It’s Connor, actually.” 

The man at Agent Valkyrie’s side finally decided to speak up. “Not that it matters much. Is there any reason for us to linger here, Lieutenant? Some of us would like to get a good night's rest. Oh but of course, I’ve had the thought that you would prefer a night at the bar, if I am correct. Or have you finally gotten over the death of that kid of yours?” Oh that’s such a low blow. He knew that it was just a bait, but oh boy if it didn’t immediately set him the fuck off. The agent said it wish such prose and confidence that Hank would have been hard pressed to tell if he had been an android or not. But he knew that an android would never be this cruel. 

It was only Connor’s sudden grip on his arm that stopped Hank from clocking the asshole in the face. Hank scoffed, “Connor! Get off of me, I need to teach this bastard a lesson.” 

Connor gently shook his head, “Allow me.” 

A bit stunned (and too curious) to do anything else, Hank watched as Connor strode over to the two FBI agents. Even without any weaponry, his determined expression was quite intimidating to look at. He saw it as Connor interrogated deviants, and as he had lead those same deviants to revolution. In comparison, the two humans in front of him were child’s play. It might have also helped that Connor’s usually pristine outfit was slightly ruffed up and his shirt had the top couple of buttons undone. The leftover thirium from the operation that got his memories back stained his torso and sort of made him look like an android axe murderer. If he squinted he could imagine them quaking in their boots. Probably hadn’t expected an android with his LED still in to be able to even think on his own let alone hurt them. They thought they were dealing with a machine, but they were wrong. 

“Ryan Richardson and Amy Valkyrie, it's a pleasure.” Connor didn’t even try to use any of his social relations programs or whatever. All of them could tell that his smile was faked. ”But I regret to inform you that as a representative of the DPD, I have to tell you something that may impact your future careers.” He paused, his polite words didn’t line up with the way he was slowly approaching the two of them like a predator. “May I?”

He tilted his head, it was so innocent looking that Hank almost burst out laughing, but Connor still hasn't cracked. The agents seemed to get the idea and quietly gave their affirmations to whatever the hell Connor was about to do. 

It happened so fast that he didn’t even see it coming. Connor grabbed both of the agents by their necks and pulled them closer to him. Both of them struggled off of their feet and dangled from Connor’s outstretched arms. It was a shameless show of his incredibly stronger android reflexes, probably an intimidation tactic. Hank was barely close enough to her what Connor started whispering to them. “You two seem to have quite the attitude about both androids and your fellow humans. As a representative of a federal bureaucratic jurisdiction, you aren’t doing a very good job at promoting democracy.” His tone was scolding them as if they were children, Hank was _living for it._

“Now see here,” Connor slightly tugged at his hands’ hold around their necks. “I am currently holding both of your necks in my hands, but let’s go a step further.” He gave them what Hank thought was meant to be a sickeningly sweet smile. The calm before the storm he supposed. And it was, because the next sentence Connor said with all the force that he could muster while still maintaining an almost silent whisper.

“I am holding your fucking lives in my hands, got it?!” Hank rarely heard him cuss, and wow did it really work to intimidate people. They were definitely quaking in their boots now. 

The agents sure attempted to struggle out of his grip, but they were no match for Connor’s android strength. “Do you need a reminder? If I oh so please, I could crush both of your external jugular veins right now! Do you understand me?!” The two humans struggling in his grip nodded their heads vigorously. The tight grip that he had on their voice boxes were probably the only thing keeping them from screaming out in pain. Okay, maybe Hank should step in...

...After Connor roughs them up just a little bit more. 

Seemingly satisfied enough with their begging, Connor loosened his hold enough to allow them to both breath and speak. They gasped in breaths of air as they still struggled to gain footing on the ground below them. Hank could tell that they hadn’t ever been in a true combat situation before, this mission must have been the last on the FBI’s mind if these idiots were the team of agents that they sent here. 

“Now, you’re going to tell me exactly what happened on the 6th floor, piece by piece.” Oh, so Connor actually did have a reason for suddenly choking out two people. “And while you do that, you are not going to insult or berate any other humans or androids. Otherwise, I’ll know.” Again, all he had to do was pointedly look at his hands to get the message across. 

“Are we clear?” The two agents pleaded as they agreed. It was pretty pathetic to be honest. Finally, Connor let go of them, and they both collapsed to the floor without his grip holding them up anymore. Spluttering, the two agents glanced between themselves. It seems like Agent Valkyrie was the braver (or weaker, depending on how you look at it Hank supposed) of the two, because she started to explain just exactly how the two of them came to be on this mission. Hank was right in his assumption earlier, they were rookies that the FBI just sent over to Detroit for publicity reasons after the android revolution. It seemed that Perkins had ‘better things’ to do lately, namely avoid Hank as much as he could.

They thought that they could make it big and impress the higher ups by personally catching the rouge RK900. Luckily, she also seemed much more receptive to the plight of androids than the man next to her was, he was the one to order the officers to shoot on sight. Valkyrie got out many, many more apologies than Hank had ever expected to hear coming from someone that he has seriously wanted to punnel in the face. Still wanted to give Richardson a black eye though. It was only a voice in his head that held a suspicious amount of resemblance to Connor’s tone of voice that told him violence was a bad idea. In all honesty, Hank couldn’t focus entirely on the conversation that they were having, his strength went solely to staying upright. 

He was never good at the whole interrogation thing, never was much of a people person either. But Connor was ridiculous, he just played two agents from the Federal Bureau of fucking Investigation like a damn fiddle. 

After what seemed like forever, which was probably just like ten minutes, Connor thanked the two FBI agents for their “cooperation” and told them to fuck off. Well he didn’t say that, but Hank thought that it was he would have said if he was Connor right now. Feeling faint, Hank subtly leaning against the wall of the hallway that they were standing in, and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, Connor was directly in front of his face. 

“Connor...what the fuck’re you doing?” He probably would have said those words with more bark if he had the energy to. 

“I detect an imbalance of cortisol in your bloodstream, Lieutenant. It can be released due to a multitude of factors, but it is likely the stress that you have gone through today. I advise that we promptly return home so that you can rest. Or, if that is unlikely, then for you to go to sleep.” His LED spun yellow as he said the part about that chemical thing, probably him analyzing Hank’s breath or something. 

“You done with them?” he asked, pointing to the two agents who were trying to be subtle in their glares in Connor’s direction. 

“Affirmative. Agent Valkyrie gave quite the confession. I have henceforth referred them to the DPD for a further investigation into a break in the FBI code of conduct, for a defiance of the law that they were supposedly here to enforce, and...attempted manslaughter of a police officer.” That last one felt tagged on there, like Connor didn’t really think of himself as either an officer or as a man quite yet. Hopefully that would change in the future, but all he could do now was acknowledge that it was there. Connor could expect a lecture on it in the morning, but not right now. Now they needed to get home. 

“Sure, you do that...” Hank tried to get up out of his position leaning on the wall, but found that his legs decided that right now was the time to go and give out on him. Curse him and his bad knees. But before he could gracefully fall flat onto his face, he felt himself being supported by Connor’s steady arms. 

“Hank,” Connor was using his actual name, this must be serious. “Please, you need to rest! We need to find you somewhere to go—“ 

“Damnit Connor I’m fine! You’re the one I should be worried about. Can’t you go for a whole five minutes without making everything about a fucking investigation?” Hank might have stepped a little too far, Connor’s LED had spun red before he even got his last sentence out. It lit up his hurt but not entirely shocked expression. “Shit, Connor you know that’s not what I meant.” 

The android took in an entirely unnecessary breath, and his LED went thankfully back to blue once again. “I know, and I realize that this mission has put you and many others in distress. And I am sorry to have caused some of that.” He waved away Hank’s rebuttal. “I know I do not have to be sorry for getting hurt, but I did. And it caused you to worry about me. But I will fix it! We will find the RK900.” 

Hank looked at him skeptically, “You can’t know that for sure.” 

Connor gave him a knowing smirk. “Of course I can, because I always accomplish my mission.” 

“You and your ‘effing missions.” His words were similar to what he had just told Connor, but this time there wasn’t any bite behind them. “Fine, I’ll go take a nap, and you can go do your sleuthing. I’ll just—yawn— go sleep in an office or something.” 

Of course, the moment when he and Connor finally get a break to hug, someone had to come in and interrupt them.

“Connor, the exploration team has decoded the data that we found earlier—“ The figure paused mid sentence. It was Markus, standing at the fork of the hallway leading to where they were standing. Hank didn’t understand the androids shocked expression (if he had his LED it would at least be a spinning yellow) until he remembered what Connor just did. Right, two human FBI officers rolling around on the ground in excruciating pain. Hank gave Connor a stern look, which was very much downplayed by the fact that he was basically cradling his arms. 

“Oh, hello Markus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Connor would definitely be that one person that decides to solve all of their problems by fighting their way out of it. In this case, it sort of worked.


	7. Chapter 7

_//December 6th, 2038. 1:41:52 AM//_

 

In the end, both Connor and Hank had to face some sort of repercussions for their actions. In Connor’s case, it was a stern talking to from Markus, who didn’t necessarily approve of his interrogation tactics. In Hank’s case, he had to sit down and take a half-an-hour power nap. Cyberlife didn’t have comfortable rooms to sleep in per say, but the mats that Jericho had brought with them seemed to do the trick just fine. Connor had spent the time by Hank’s side looking over the digitized reports that came in from the DPD about their mission. 

Jericho had also decided to share their network with him, mostly on Markus’ request. They had compiled data that would take hours to completely scan. He got himself ready to go into low power mode to do just that when he was interrupted by the door slamming open. Or it would have if it had been an older door frame, instead it made a very loud beeping noise as it silently slid open. 

“Connor? What are you doing in the spare repair room—“ Surprisingly, it was not Markus who had come by to check up on him and Hank. It was North standing in the doorway, holding a large rectangular container in her arms. Offhandedly, he noticed that it was only 85% stainless steel with the other 15% being a form of plastic. Similar to an android’s internal plating. She made no attempt to walk farther into the room but stood there with a shocked expression on her face. Connor found it ironic, she was acting just like Markus had when he found him and Hank earlier. The two androids acted similarly to a variety of situations, even with their differences in philosophy. 

“Hello North.” He was tight lipped, realizing that he was once again cradled over Hank’s form. This time as he slept. But unlike Markus, North most likely wouldn’t approve of him being affectionate with a human. Connor put it at a 47% chance of her immediate rejection of his actions. He made to let go of Hank but was interrupted by the other android. 

“Don’t even bother,” she waved her hand dismissively at Hank. “I only need to share some data missing from the reports with you. Then I’ll be on my way.” 

“Oh, alright.” Connor, still holding onto Hank’s arm with one hand, slowly moved his body as to open himself to North. Any new information would be helpful in finding the RK900. He wondered why she had decided to be the one to deliver this information, whatever it was. Previously she had only shown signs of reserved hostility at best and full out aggression at worst towards him. 

As awkwardly as an android could, North walked over to the two of them with the metallic box in hand. She set it down onto the mattress that Hank slept on, surprisingly careful not to set it on top of the sleeping human. Not that there was much room anywhere else. The abandoned storage room was certainly being used efficiently, not that Connor knew of anyone coming in here recently. Other emptied crates full of biocomponents had already been raided from the room. That was one of the reasons that he had picked this place, it was discrete. But if North has found them, then Markus must have told her where they were. 

“What is it that you are here to give to me?” Ever the curious, Connor removed the layer of artificial skin on his right hand and held it out to North. But instead of taking it in her own, she pushed it away when he offered it to her. 

“Not that kind of information! Put your damn skin back on. The reason that this data isn’t on the network is because it’s physical data. There’s no hint of it in any digital form that we could find. It’s in this box right here.” As she said that, she undid the hatches on the lid of the container. As it opened it let out an audible gust of air, as if it had been kept in there for quite a long time. Air sealed containers weren’t rare in this facility, but they weren’t common either. Peeking inside, Connor saw what was in it was…paper? 

Unless it was made into a leather bound book, like the ones that Hank had in his house, then he couldn’t claim to have actually seen physical pieces of paper in person before. Much in the same vein, he has never had the chance to find or use old fashioned pens and pencils to record information. These multiple stacks of paper, because there were at least five hundred individual sheets in the pile, were written in multiple different types of writing utensils. Connor detected lead, graphite, and multiple varieties of ink in the collection. What was something as archaic as this doing in the Cyberlife Tower? He voiced this question out loud to North. 

“Not a clue, but take a look at this!” She started rummaging through the paper. After a minute it so of looking, she found something down inside the box. There were in total 24 manilla colored files collected near the bottom. They were labeled with the serial numbers of androids. AX, QB, YK and PJ; just to name a fraction of the numbers listed. Not looking at any of those, North reached out to grab a single folder labeled RK. 

“They had these bad boys up in the storage rooms on level 42.” She padded the folder in her hands and handed it to Connor. “You already know what’s in here right?” 

“Most likely production notes and information of the thirium density of the RK series models.” Even as he said it, he knew he was going to be wrong. 

“Nope, go and open it up!” North’s gleeful expression didn’t match up with her normally serious deposition. Almost hesitantly, Connor opened the folder. 

The inside of it looked normal at first, with diagrams and introductory information to the RK series printed in bold lettering on the first couple of pages. Oddly enough, there were many handwritten notes in the margins of the paper. When the print would talk about the possible advancement of the RK100’s social communications program, in the margins someone had scribbled ‘of course they need to be able to integrate, duh’ with the added effect of underlining the phrase in question. This narration went on throughout all of the models in the RK series. Reluctantly, Connor skipped both the RK200 and the RK800’s file notes. It was not necessary to read about his own flaws in the eyes of his creators just to satisfy his own curiosity. 

When he got to the last file, the one labeled RK900, there wasn’t much to see. The anatomical diagram showed was the same as the one for RK800, and the scribbles even write that ‘it’s a little odd to reuse the same face for two different androids’. It is written next to the justification for it, as the RK800 was simply a prototype with only 100 models made. Even with those 100 models, only one of them should have been active at any given time. Connor knew that they broke that rule when he became a deviant, but compared to other android models he had very few androids that shared his face. 

The folder was much lighter than the others, which had included both production and testing notes on each individual model. This one had neither of those. The RK900 wasn’t ready to be made public then, if they hadn’t even gotten into the mass production stage yet. It was likely a miracle that the RK900 was even fully functional at all. If the revolution had happened even a week earlier, then this project would have never even seen the light of day. 

Not seeing anything else, Connor was going to flip the entire folder shut, when a single piece of paper caught his eye. It was separate from the rest, and it looked much too new to be contained in these old production notes. Not worrying about tearing it out due to its sturdiness, he analyzed it. 

It was a legal document. The parchment was clean, and would have been difficult for even the most brilliant human to read with the formal language that it used. It detailed the business transaction between Cyberlife, and what Connor quickly realized was the U.S Department of State. It was a confirmation that 200,000 RK900 android units would be sent upon their completion in 2040, only two years away. At least that explained what it was doing in the RK900’s files. 

He looked back at North, “What was Cyberlife doing with the State Department? They conduct international and foreign affairs, I doubt that they would have any reason to cooperate with a solely American monopoly in order to gain androids.” 

She shook her head. “Don’t focus on that, here, turn it over.” North grabbed the paper from his hands and flipped it over. Connor looked at her questioningly, the back only continued the legal speak and ended in the signature of the Chief of Staff and a spokesperson from Cyberlife Industries. “What’s wrong with the signatures?” 

“There is nothing inherently wrong with them. Both are legitimate signatures. From Margaret Finer representing the Department of State and Danielle Carnegie representing Cyberlife.” Finer was the Chief of Staff at the State Department from 2028 through 2030. Carnegie was a CSR spokeswoman for Cyberlife from 2025 up until recently this year. The revolution had lead to many of Cyberlife’s employees leaving the company, there was no reason to question her motives there. Suddenly getting the bigger picture, Connor cross analyzed the date of the documents. Combining that with the time frames in which both of these two worked, he quickly found one commonality. 

“This was finalized when Kamski was still at Cyberlife. Yet he’s not mentioned anywhere on the document.”

“Finally got it, yeah?” North held out her hand to bring up a hologram display of a timeline. “Markus explained it to us when Simon found it a while ago. At this point in time,” She pointed to late 2028 on the map. “Kamski was at odds with the company on their ‘strategic differences’. What do you think could have been the cause of that?” 

Connor was starting to understand. “Kamaski would never have wanted androids at the federal level, least of all being used by the State Department internationally.” 

“That’s just the thing. And the DOS wouldn’t have order just some random model to be their driving android force. They ordered the most advanced model almost ten years in advance! What would it mean for Cyberlife if their androids would be representing the United States as foreign diplomats, when we negotiate treaties, what if an android was our representative to the UN?! Connor, the RK900 was just going to be the start of something much greater.” North’s frantic speech suddenly paused. 

Her hands had been wildly gesturing as she talked, but realizing that they were still frozen in the air she brought them back down and sighed. “I’m just glad that we stopped it in time.” 

Connor had never seen this side of North before, she was obviously troubled at the thought that androids would be subjected to working for the federal government, but even more so at the thought that Cyberlife was working closely with the government already. It was an open secret that President Warren heavily favored policies that benefited the growth of the android business, but Connor had thought that it was limited to the presidential office alone and not the rest of the executive departments. 

If she was right, and Cyberlife had been allowed to continue, they would have had an even bigger influence on American politics than they had before the revolution. Of course, it would have been far too low of a possibility for an android to go to the UN without any civil rights. Although, she was also right in saying that they would never actually know what would have happened. 

“I had no idea that they were negotiating with the federal government all this time.” Connor felt almost ashamed that he knew nothing about any of this. He was under Cyberlife’s thumb for his entire life, which to be fair was not that long a time. 

“Don’t be, Connor.” North’s eyes softened. “ We were all ignorant to what we were going through. I just gave you a harder time than I should have, and I’m sorry for that.” She was apologizing to him? He was shocked, considering her previous treatment of him, but he felt a warm feeling bubbling up in his chest. 

“Thank you North. I too apologize for my actions before I became a deviant.” It was nice to ‘get that off of his shoulders’, as Hank would often say. Speaking of the human, he was still soundly sleeping next to them, unaware of the tense conversation that they were having. North caught his gaze lingering on Hank and gave him a knowing smile. She bid him farewell and hold him to take Hank and leave. Connor protested, but North told him that her and Jericho had everything covered. Apparently, they had also sent away the police officers almost an hour ago. Him and Hank were the only ones here who were not members of Jericho, at least officially. 

North had left him quite a lot to think about, everything from the whereabouts of the RK900 to Kamski’s involvement at Cyberlife. But for now he wanted to focus on getting Hank into a proper bed. It took much more effort than it probably should have to get the human up and out of the storage room they had taken refuge in. 

“Shit, the place’s deserted.” Hank, tightly holding onto Connor’s arm, looked around the Cyberlife lobby that not hours before had been flooding with both androids and humans. He had to almost drag the human along behind him as they made their way to the outside of the building. Mostly to ease his own worries, Connor decided to ‘check in’ on Hank. He normally considered it an invasion of privacy, but considering that Hank was barely able to stand, Conor felt that it was justified. 

_//Run diagnostic scan on Lt. Hank Anderson//_  
.  
..  
…  
//Scan complete: 65 BPM; low average. Body temperature at 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Signs of increased cortisol and insulin production. Condition: sleep deprived// 

Standing outside in the cold had no effect on him, the most his body could do without turning his very sensitive receptors on was recognize if he was burning or freezing, as there had been no use to activate anything else while he was undercover. Now, he almost wanted to turn the receptors of that particular function on so he could understand what it felt like. But he decided not to as both he and Hank walked out in the freezing weather to find the car that Hank had abandoned in the parking lot almost a full twelve hours ago now. 

Hank was definitely not in any state to be driving home, especially not in this weather. Connor scanned the nearest weather tower and found that a blizzard has started at approximately 9:25:00 PM and had stayed in the Detroit metro area since then. As Hank weakly reached for the driver’s side of the vehicle, Connor pulled his arm back towards him. 

“Lieutenant, I advise that you do not drive us back. The roads conditions are severely iced over and in your impaired state I do not believe that you would have the motor functions to—” 

Not verbally responding, Hank simply glared at him. Fully expecting him to deny his statement, Connor made to bring up many more aspects of the lieutenant’s health in order to convince him. But in the end he didn’t need to. Hank just sighed and limped over to the other side of the beaten up old police car. 

_//Query: Why is Hank acting like this?//_

_//Likely causes: sleep deprivation, anger, or sadness caused by my own fatal wounds//_

Satisfied yet not really happy with his analysis, Connor stepped into the driver seat and made to directly connect to the vehicle in order to drive it. Holding his hand on top of the dashboard of the car for a couple seconds, he quickly realized that Hank’s car was so old as to not be android compatible. It probably hadn’t been repaired in many years, as only autonomous vehicle repair shops specializing in this type of car would have been able to repair this model. He resisted the urge to download the programs necessary to fix it up himself, Hank would prefer if he did not do that. Glancing over to him, he brought up his need to be able to turn the car on. “May I have your keys, Hank?”

He grumbled in response (his social matrix didn’t detect any malice behind it, only fondness). “Now it’s back to Hank ain’t it.” With his poor albeit functional motor skills, Hank tossed over the lanyard that held all of his keys. Connor took no time in finding the correct one and getting the old car up and running. 

The ride back home was quiet. Connor had subtly turned down the radio, which was playing only late night advertisements at the moment. Hank’s usual musical library was quickly vetoed in order to let him get some more rest while they were in the car. He wasn’t happy but Hank accepted that, but only if Connor allowed him to drink the coffee that he had forgotten in his car that morning. 

“Actually, I left it in the car yesterday Connor, It’s past midnight, its the 6th right now.” Hank’s smug expression gave away that he was likely joking with him, but Connor felt the need to bite back anyway. 

“That makes it much worse!” He looked over at Hank to scold him more as they finally pulled into their driveway. “That coffee could be considered a day old, who knows what kinds of human related bacterias it has collected!” He was going to say more, but Hank was looking at their house is shock. He lightly tapped his shoulder to look over it and to their front porch. 

The door was open. 

“Just my luck…” Hank grumbled, but his eyes had grown clear. Due to the coffee or the threat of a break in, Connor didn’t know. Possibly relying on his police instincts, Hank grabbed the gun hidden in the glove compartment of the car and slowly got out. Connor then followed suit. 

The two stalked their way up to the door, avoiding the windows all the while. They spent a whole minute listening for sounds and not hearing anything indicating a break in. Connor could hear Sumo snoring just inside the door, which made him think that the intruder had somehow not woken the territorial dog up. Including the absence of any fingerprints on the doorknob it was becoming more and more likely by the second that whoever they were they were an android. He wished that he could communicate this to Hank, but that would give away their position. The android must know that they’re there, the car wasn't necessarily subtle. But they still had the element of surprise. 

He caught Hank’s gaze, and raised his fingers to count down from three. 

Three. Two. One!

“Detroit Police! Put your hands in the air!” Hank waved his gun around, expecting to find someone, or anyone, standing in the living room. Instead, there was a figure collapsed on the floor. They were lying right against Sumo, who was calm with their presence. Hank’s yell seems to have woken both of them up, and the figure lurched up as if it was painful to do so. Their obviously Cyberlife branded uniform was completely soaked through, and their LED was spinning between yellow and red. 

Connor couldn’t believe his eyes. “RK900? What are you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After I wrote this chapter my google search results varied from ' who is the current chief of staff of the united states' to 'whats the average human body temperature'...I should really clear my search history.


	8. Chapter 8

_//Time Unknown//_  
.  
..  
...  
//ERROR: Stasis mode interrupted. Receiving vocal external stimuli// 

“Holy shit that’s your replacement Connor? Why the fuck does he look exactly like you.” 

“I’m sure that’s exactly the reason, Hank.” 

_//Voice recognition programs activated:_

_Two separate individuals. RK800 android model, codename Connor. Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department//_

The RK900 was laying on the ground next to the fluffy creature that it had found. _//Memory fragment: Sumo. I call him Sumo//_ Two figures stood in from of it. The older looking human was the one whose yell had woken it up. Visual processors not working correctly, the RK900 had a hard time identifying their facial expressions. It was also the reason it took so long to notice the gun being pointed at his face. 

It took it a much longer time than it should have to piece together the situation. The RK900 had broken into their home, and obviously they would treat an intruder with hostility. It had been foolish to think that it would be welcome here. Its original intention had been to grab a change of clothes and simply leave before they got back. Instead, the moment that the four legged animal—Sumo—had warmed up to him he had collapsed on the floor. 

He was just so tired, the stasis mode has been activated without its consent. Almost as if its body needed to go to sleep—not sleep, stasis. _//You are not human, you do not sleep//_ But it was a deviant, did deviants need sleep? 

The android must not have responded in a timely manner, as it was interrupted from its calculations when the human further threatened him with the gun. 

“Just say something goddamnit! What are you doing here, and for that matter how the fuck did you get here?” The old man //Hank Anderson, 54 y/o male, irregular heartbeat—// held a faulty grip on the gun, not fit for a lieutenant like him. His aim was towards the android’s left ventricle, which was fatal for a human, but an ultimately harmless place for an android to be shot in… That didn’t work to reassure itself that it wasn’t in any danger. As few emotions as it had experienced in the past few hours, one single emotion seemed to be constantly present in its mind. 

_//Irregular program detected: Fear//_

“Hank, I don’t think—“ Its predecessor tried to bring the focus of the situation onto him, but the human wouldn’t allow him. As the RK800 tried to move past him, Anderson stuck his arm out to stop him. 

“Stay away from him Connor! Can’t tell if he’s a threat or not, not when he’s just fucking staring at us like that.” The RK900 logically knew that it was unlikely that Anderson would shoot an android with the exact same face as his partner. //Memory fragment: Don’t listen to him Hank! I’m the one who—BANG//

For a moment, it couldn’t tell if the gunshot it had heard was real or not. 

But it wasn’t. Anderson was still in front of it, one arm pointing the gun at it and the other holding the RK800 back behind him. The gun was a threat, now that Cyberlife no longer felt the need to repair broken androids. That was the only thing that it had learned in its time away from the tower. All the news articles on the street were talking about it. It being the lack of Cyberlife’s influence in the Detroit metro area. The rumors that Cyberlife had been shut down. 

_//Query: What will happen if I get shot?//_  
.  
..  
...  
//Insufficient data. Likely outcomes: mortal injury, deactivation, and complete utter destruction// 

_//Conclusion: I don’t want to die//_

“...I-I d-don’t want—I don’t w-want to d-die!” Why were its vocal processors not working properly? It was only then that it noticed the multiple warning displays in the corners of its vision. Its eyes darted around trying to find an explanation. 

_//Injury sustained: level two damage//_

_//Threat detected. Recommendation: neutralize target//_

_//Stress level: 78%. Steadily rising.//_

_//Trigger emotional response?// Y//N_

_//Androids don’t feel fear//_

_//Trigger emotional response?// Y//N //Trigger emotional response?// Y//N //Trigger emotional response?// Y//N //Trigger emotional response?// Y//N //Trigger emotional response?// Y//N_  
.  
..  
…  
//ERROR: emotional response activated// 

“Ah fuck, he’s crying.” There were indeed tears beginning to form around the RK900’s eyes. It could not control the release of the saline-like liquid that was coming out of its eyes. Slowly, it pulled its arms up to wipe away at the tears that begun streaming down its face. Not that it was helping much, because its sleeves were also soaking wet. The RK800 took advantage of the lieutenant’s lapse in concentration to rush past him and shield his replacement. 

“Put the gun down Hank! He’s not a threat to us, he’s just confused. Please, I know that you don’t want to shoot him.” 

In the tense few seconds of silence between the two of them no one dared to move. But then Anderson sighed, “Shit, you’re damn right.” He lowered his gun and relaxed his stance. _//Threat dispatched//_

With his back turned to it the RK900 couldn’t see his predecessor's face, but whatever it looked liked it seems to have calmed down Anderson. Then he turned around to look at the crying android. Crouching down to its level, he slowly pulled its arms away from its covered face. 

“...Are you alright?” All the RK900 could see in his eyes was a pure, uninhibited warmth. It didn’t know how to respond. Was he alright? It was not injured, nor was it in an serious danger at the moment. But its condition was not ideal. Its injury detection programs were firing warnings across his mind, but it was not injured. It held superficial damage on its arms and legs, but nothing that would warrant the level of concern from the RK800. 

“M-my condition is s-sta—stable.” Its voice was wavering. Androids did not waver. 

“I’m not asking about your diagnostics.” Then what could the RK800 possibly be talking about? “How are you feeling right now?” 

_//Androids don’t feel things//_

A frown found its way onto the other android’s face. The light seemed to dim in his eyes, and the RK900 felt the grip on its hands tighten. Then it felt a probe inside of its mind. 

_//Incoming android transmission//_

**We do feel things, I know that you can feel emotions!**

What the RK900 hadn’t realized was that its hands still held in the RK800’s grip were porcelain white. They were connected and a soft blue light had started to mix with the red and yellow of their LEDs. Soundlessly, it looked up and locked its gaze with its previous incarnation. It’s body involuntarily shivered. The RK800’s eyes narrowed. 

“Are you cold?” His hands softly tugged on the soaked sleeves of its Cyberlife uniform. “You’re soaking wet.” He didn’t even wait for a response before calling out to the human, who up until this point had been hesitant and wavered in the open doorway. 

“Hank?” Hearing his name being said, the human straightened up and started walking towards the two of them slowly. All the RK900 could see was the gun still held in his grip, even as it was harmlessly pointed to the ground. 

_//Threat approaching: proceed with caution//_

_//Stress level rising: 82%//_

With the mental link between the two of them, the RK800 was quick to pick up on its rising stress levels. “Can you go and grab a couple of blankets? There’s a couple of them in the hallway closet.” 

“Yeah, sure Connor.” Not even hesitant to follow the order of an android, Anderson started to walk away, but then paused. “How about I draw up a bath too? Wait, would that even help an android…?” 

The RK800 softly chuckled, “Yes, that’d be great Hank. Thank you.” With that response, the lieutenant quickly walked out of the living room and down a hallway that the RK900 hadn’t noticed until that very moment. Its shoulders slowly relaxed from their previously tense position. 

_//Stress level lowering: 35%//_

**I’ll ask you again, how are you feeling?** For some reason that it could not understand, it decided to respond with the defensive option. 

**Again RK800, I will tell you that androids to not feel emotions.**

**And you weren’t crying your eyes out not five minutes ago.**

**You are openly expressing a sarcastic tone of voice RK800—** It was interrupted by the other android. 

**You don’t actually have to call me that you know? My name’s Connor, it’s actually really weird to be called that again after such a long time hanging around humans.**

The RK900 paused. **That is your codename. Are you saying that you prefer to be called that?**

**Yeah, it’s different from my model designation. You have an emotional connection to your own name don’t you?**

**I don’t...** It did not have a designated name. It had tried to find one, something to call itself other than RK900. Humans all had names, and when androids deviated they often chose names for themselves, or they had already been given names to begin with. Having a name means that you have an identity. But it did not have anything else to call itself. It was not supposed to have an identity. 

The RK800—Connor seemed to get the idea of what had not been said. An expression of sadness spread its way across his face. 

**...So that’s why there wasn’t a name listed in the files.** But that despair disappeared as quickly as it came, and instead Connor looked at it with reassurance. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to find a name that you like! How about we start right now?” He softly smiled at the RK900. 

“S-start what?” Was the RK—Connor, not RK800— Was Connor saying that he would chose a name for it? 

“Well, I can’t pick out a name for you obviously.” Right, their hands were still interconnected. It must have been projecting most of its thoughts over to Connor instinctually. “But we can come up with a nickname for you. It might get awkward to have to call you ‘The RK900’ all of the time.” That was what it had already been doing. 

“How about Nines?” It was Lieutenant Anderson, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. But before it had even processed the question, the RK900 looked around for the gun that had been in the human’s possession. It was nowhere to be found. 

_//Query: Anderson no longer feels the need to use the gun?//_

**Hank won’t hurt you. He might look like a grumpy old man, but he’s pretty nice once you get to know him.**

“It’s nice and simple for us dumb humans, but not much different from what you’re already used to.” That compromise made sense, not changing its designation already in place, but simply altering it slightly. The human must have at least put some thought into it, if not spending the entire time collecting these supposed blankets thinking about it. “Bath’s ready. Knock yourselves out. But I’ll be sleeping right next door so I’ll be able to hear if you guys get crazy, got it?” 

“Got it.” Connor nodded his head at the man. 

“Uh, by the way-” Anderson locked eyes with it. Previously, he had solely given his attention to Connor, but in this moment it felt like he was looking through its soul. _//You don’t have a soul//_ “Good luck with all of this deviancy shi—stuff. Deviancy stuff. Connor was an absolute mess when he first got here, so you’re doing just fine, kid.” With that, the human walked back towards what it assumed was his bedroom. 

_//Query:...what is this warm feeling?//_

**It’s kindness, Nines. You might want to get used to it.** This time, Connor smiled at the RK900—Nines. It only worked to strengthen that odd feeling inside of its chest. 

“Come on, let’s go jump in that bath that we got Hank to make for you.” He uncurled his legs from the seated position that they were in, and pulled Nines up with him. //Nines, his name was Nines// Connor ended up holding the majority of their combined weight. Its legs were refusing to function with any kind of efficiency. With the RK900’s added height, it would have been a very uncomfortable position for a human to walk in, but it was a breeze for the android. Its fingers dug into the white collared shirt that Connor was wearing, hoping to gain some sort of stability. 

As they started to walk down the same hallway that Anderson had walked down, it couldn’t help its curiosity, “A-are we actually going to jump into the bathtub?” 

In response, the RK800 could only laugh loudly. Illogically, Nines found it quite nice to listen to. “Sure! Only if you want to though.” 

Connor was right in his statement earlier, Nines could definitely get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I was doing so good with posting on schedule, sorry guys. But here it is!


	9. Chapter 9

_//December 6th, 2038. 8:01:34//_

 

The morning after was always the worst part about any sort of late night event that ends up lasting too long. Your head’s a mess, you’re physically exhausted, and you can’t remember half of what actually happened past midnight. Whether that event be a one night stand, or the sudden appearance of the most advanced android prototype in the United fucking States of America, it’s all the same the morning after. 

“Good morning, Hank!” 

“Hello, Lieutenant Anderson.” 

Well, in this case, some things do end up changing just a little bit. 

Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, it took Hank almost a full ten seconds to remind himself that no, he wasn’t seeing double; and to realize that yes, there were two identical looking androids waking him up at eight o'clock sharp. 

“...did you guys even go to bed?” They must have gotten up at least a while before they decided to tag team him. Both of them were out of their dumb Cyberlife issued uniforms, fucking _finally_. Seeing Connor back in his uniform on top of meeting him back at that godforsaken tower was killing his heart (not that he’d ever let the android know). But Hank then remembered that neither of these androids actually owned their own clothing. Connor for the most part just stole individual clothing items from Hank’s wardrobe and called it a day. His outfit today comprised of a baby blue polo shirt, some boxers, and a pair of miss matched socks. The newly dubbed Nines on the other hand, “Is that my Knights of the Black Death hoodie from the twenties?” 

The RK900 despite not having been alive for more than a day, seems to be able to tell when he was being judged. “...y-yes it is. Is there a problem with me wearing it?” 

Connor took that opportunity to sit down on the bed next to Hank, resting his back on the headboard. “No Hank, you’re suppose to say ‘look at how great you look not wearing that dumb Cyberlife uniform anymore.’” He would probably not ever realize how close he had gotten to actually guessing Hank’s exact thoughts. Stupid android precognition. 

Meanwhile, Nines stood mechanically at the foot of his bed. Almost as if he was afraid of getting too close to the two of them. It took probably too much reassurance than it should have from Connor and Hank’s explicit approval before he even felt comfortable sitting down on the edge of the mattress. 

Sometimes Hank looked at androids and felt jealous, what with their eternally good looks and superior physical strength. But then he gets to see shit like this. A newly born android, fresh out of the processing plant if you will. And then this infant of a person thinks that they’re a machine without emotions. That if they show likes, dislikes, or even a vague sense of a preference over something that they’re defective. That they’re wrong, or messed up in some way. That they need to be destroyed in order to be redeemed. It reminded Hank too much of the way victims of abuse handled their emotional situations. It was horrible. 

In the wake of the revolution, the police got handed many cases involving the more rambunctious androids out there. Those who decided that looting and stealing were a better option than conforming to the human society that they now found themselves in. While the revolution had come with it the improvements that gaining a set of human rights does to a population, along with it came all of the legal punishments being filed out for them. Oh god all the paperwork. The precinct had been pretty busy the past couple of days, even focusing solely on android related crime. That’s not even considering all the humans using the revolution and the evacuation following it as an excuse to disregard the law. 

Then there were those who had no clue what they were going at all, like Connor’s replacement here. Struggling to even think about living their own lives without the constant presence of Cyberlife behind their backs. To some extent, Connor himself was a part of the later category. 

Hank could never truly know what it was like for them, to consider themselves inferior to human beings. But dammit if he couldn’t empathize with the feelings of isolation and depression that came from self image issues, then he would eat his shoes. 

He sighed, “Can you just give me like ten minutes to get ready? Then we’ll go wherever the fuck you guys need to go.” 

“Actually Hank,” Connor shyly reached for Hank’s hand. “We were wondering if we could stay here today?” 

As Connor rubbed circles into his hand, all he could do was grumble half heartedly. “What’re you planning this time? The last time I let you stay in my house alone for more than three hours was when I came home to a spotless kitchen.” 

“It’s not like that this time! I promise that we will not complete any housework without your permission.” At least he sounded sincere while he said that. Checking his LED, Hank realized that it was cycling between blue and yellow.

“Why’re you going yellow then?” The android’s unoccupied hand flew up to his temple. It was like touching the ring on his head allowed him to know what color it was projecting. Actually it probably did, now that he thought about it. 

Then, as if reacting to something unspoken, Connor whipped his head around to look at Nines. “I’m not easy to read!” 

He could make the assumption that they were telepathically communicating, but he felt a little bit out of the loop as Connor started to contribute a conversation that they were apparently having in their minds, but responding to it out loud. “Yes, I know what you want to ask him, and yes he’ll agree with me!”

Then he paused, “No, you’ll be fine Nines. We won’t be going anywhere without both of our agreement on it!”

Another pause. “Just give me a second.” 

Essentially, Connor was talking to himself. Hank could only look between the both of them questioningly, “Should I understand what’s going on right now?” 

“No—“

“Yes.” Finally the RK900 decided to speak up. 

“Nines! Let me explain it to him—“

“I-I do not wish to be taken away from you.” 

“Wait, what the hell?” The android didn’t want to be taken away, what the fuck did that mean? Hank, realizing that he was still essentially laying down in bed, pushed himself up into a sitting position. “We’re having this conversation after I’ve put my damn pants on. And after I guilt Fowler into giving me the day off.” 

After a rushed five minutes of getting ready, and he looked barely presentable. An old short sleeved tee with a faded logo of some school that he may or may not have gone to, his worn jacket, and a pair of old jeans. Fowler would write him up a disciplinary warning if he knew what Hank was wearing as he called the station, but it was functional. The important thing about that was that he was decent. 

“So tell me,” he started. “What’s all this crap about not wanting to be ‘taken away’ from us?” Hank could probably figure it out, he wasn’t a lieutenant for nothing, but it would be better to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. In all honesty, he was just curious. As he waited, he took a sip of the coffee that had just so happened to be waiting for him on the counter. Definitely not there to influence his mood or anything, the androids both made for investigation and interrogation probably wouldn’t try a manipulation tactic when trying to convince someone to do something. Yeah, he took the coffee anyway. 

Sitting awkwardly at the kitchen table, the two androids glanced at each other. Again, Hank could only watch as they seemingly communicated with their minds, with both of their LEDs going yellow. And once again, it was Connor who decided to speak up. 

“Nines doesn’t think that he’ll be allowed to stay here if anybody else knows his location. We wanted to wait a while before deciding on how to go to Jericho.” 

“Oh yeah?” Hank couldn’t help but bring it up. “Hate to break it to ya kid, but I doubt that Jericho will be happy to take you in after that show you put on for them yesterday. You do realize that you shot at least like five androids? Non-lethally, but still.” 

“Hank, that was before he became a deviant—” As soon as he had said the word Nines visibly flinched. Wait, androids don’t flinch. _What._ Even as he noticed it, Connor continued talking like nothing had happened, “When we were together, I could see that it was obvious he had been build with emotions, just like any other intelligent android. I’m going to talk to Markus about him, but until we can guarantee his safety he’s not going anywhere. Hank, please, will you let him stay here, just for a little while?” 

As much as he would have liked to say that he had to think long and hard on the answer to that question, in his mind he knew what he was going to say the moment the words left Connor’s mouth. “...Sure. Just don’t go and break anything in my house, alright?” 

It was pretty funny in hindsight, Hank the resident android hater is the one who ends up hosting two of the very same in his own house after their peaceful revolution. If it was to atone for his sins, then he probably wasn’t doing a very good job of it. But dammit, he could try! There wasn’t any harm in housing another android, he might as well take in another if he wanted to go full out pro-android rights advocate. Plus, Sumo seems to like him, so he couldn’t be that bad of a person to be around. Ever since they had gotten up that morning, the saint bernard hadn’t left the RK900’s side, the fluffy traitor. 

In response, the two androids could only stare at Hank. “What, did I finally break your android logic programs?” 

“Well it’s just that—I expected a lot more resistance than that. I put it at only around a 25% chance of you accepting the deal immediately, even with caffeine in your system.” He just knew the coffee was a trick. 

“Like I said, faulty programs. You need to get your brain checked out?” 

“No Hank, my internal computing software is working perfectly fine!” 

He chuckled in response, “You go and tell yourself that, but in the meantime. How about we do something, if we’re going to be staying here all day, why don’t we have a movie night?” 

Connor nodded his head seriously, as if suggesting a movie night (or day, in this case) was as serious as deciding the fate of the entire world. “Yes, that will optimize the amount of enjoyment we can get out of this day. Or as you would say Hank, it is now we can have fun! What do you think Nines?” 

The RK900 only looked at the two of them blankly. “W-what is to be accomplished by watching t-these movies?” 

“Lots of things! They often show younger humans stories that teach life lessons or about the morality spectrum. Others are made simply for their entertainment as a visual medium. I believe that even as an android we can benefit from watching them.” 

“Plus even if they’re not fun for you, maybe you can appreciate the cinematography and shit in them?" Hank added. 

He and Connor waited with baited breath as Nines looked like he was contemplating on whether or not he wanted to watch a movie with them. Well, it was kinda hard to tell exactly what he was thinking. In the day that Hank has seen the android he’s gone through exactly four expressions. Neutral ‘I’m an android’ face, vaguely interested face, slightly sad face, and ‘help me I’m crying and I don’t know why’ face. But it looked like he might need to add another emotion to the list. The ‘I’m happy but I don’t want you to know that I am’ face, which was basically just Nines looking away bashfully with a small smile. At least he was showing a lot more emotional depth than when Connor had first met him, it’s improved for him. It’s improved for both him and Connor in such a short amount of time. 

Hank could feel a sense of pride rise up in his chest. God he was such a dad. 

With the speed at which all these android were developing emotions, you’d almost have to think that Cyberlife was intentionally making and then repressing hear emotions in order to sell them in a commercial market. 

...But now’s not the time to be thinking about all of that. Right now, Hank had the company of two identical looking androids who wanted a movie night at nine o’clock in the morning. 

And goddammit, if they were going to watch a movie marathon they were going to do it right. If only so he could show Nines about how life was worth living, and how The Lion King was the greatest Disney movie ever made. The human, two androids, and one dog ended up spending the entire day watching all kinds of movies, from live action to cartoon comedy. 

He knew that this peace couldn’t last forever, this domestic unknowing bliss was going to have to be shattered soon. It was only a matter of time. But for now, Hank could give the newly born android laughter. And that’s all that he needed right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank's a Lion King kind of guy don't question it.


	10. Chapter 10

_//December 7th, 2038. 5:43:36 AM//_

 

It was a chilly morning in Detroit. Having snowed the night before, the sidewalks and streets were all covered with a layer of pure white. While it might have been correct to assume that the snow plows should have been sweeping the city streets free of snow in this time of the morning, the vast majority of them were also run by androids. With the revolution over with, many services had been shut down in order to allow them time to hire actual workers, even if they happened to also be androids looking for work. 

Markus could only sigh in content, knowing that even at the expense of quick travel across roads, his people had been freed. 

“Praise to RA9! We’re finally fucking here. Markus, what are we doing here again?” North was acting as aloof as ever. The taxi that they had ordered was definitely running at least half an hour behind, but it wasn’t like they were in much of a rush. 

What she was referring to was the devastated building in front of them, worn down after years of abuse from the elements. It was an old apartment building, but no human would want or be able to sleep in there. Just by looking through the broken windows Markus could see the destroyed interior of the lobby area. The couches were ripped apart and thrown across the floor. The wires of the ceiling lights were exposed. It was a complete disaster. 

“This North, is our new building. I’d hope that you’d show it a little more respect. We’ll be working out of here as soon as we can get it functional.” Although he hadn’t considered that the infrastructure of the building would have to be replaced. It might take a lot longer than he had realized to fix it up. 

“What?! But this place is terrible, why’d you agree to having this be our new base?” The other android crossed her arms over her chest. 

He sighed, “Because this was the closest location that they offered to give up to the center of the city. It also happens to be the closest to where Jericho was. Come look at this!” Pulling North away from the sidewalk and towards the side of the building, Markus turned the corner to look for something specifically. 

“There’s nothing here Markus, just some old trash bins. What could you possibly be looking for?” 

“I know it’s here, I just have to—aha! It’s over there!”

North could only follow behind as he walked up to one of the large dumpsters lining the side of the alleyway and started to push it away from the wall. “Here, let me help you with that, you weakling.” 

With their combined strength the two of them succeeded in getting the bin out of the way, leaving the wall behind it exposed. 

To any human the graffiti symbol would have meant nothing. There was a complicated piece of artwork lining the wall, but the portion of it hidden by the bin held a specific symbol inside it. The design was just a simple square with lines jutting out of the four corners. But it was immediately recognizable to any android who had ever tried to find Jericho. 

“This was one of the signs on the path to find Jericho.” North could only stare at in in amazement. “How did you convince them to just give you this exact building Markus?” 

“I didn’t. They’re the ones who offered up this one. They just thought that the graffiti lowered its value. I don’t think they even realized the significance of the symbol.” 

She scoffed, “Idiots. But for once it worked in our favor huh.” 

He continued, “I was thinking of leaving this side of the walls alone, if only to remember from which we all came. We could even apply for a plaque if you’d like? To educate more of our people about how we lived.” 

North started to chuckle, and affectionately hit his arm. “You've thought way to hard about this, Markus. Let’s save all that ‘informing the future generation’ thing until after we actually get this place up and running.” They continued to throw ideas back and forth at each other. As apathetic to the whole idea as North was, she was still one of the leaders of Jericho. They needed a permanent place to stay. At the moment, the majority of the androids had been holding their protest at Capitol Hill, in order to continue to pressure city legislature to give them equal rights. 

Speaking of the leaders of Jericho, It seems like Simon and Josh had just arrived. At least the car speeding down the street was obviously driven by someone who had no experience actually driving one. Although, their mode of transportation was much faster than the taxi that he and North took. The car drove up to the curb, and right on over it. 

“Five dollars says Simon’s driving.” 

“And I know that I’d lose that bet in a heartbeat.” Markus walked over to where the van was haphazardly parked half on the sidewalk in the front of the building and cupped his hands in front of his mouth. “Are you alright?” 

Josh’s head poked out from the passenger side window. “We’re good! And look, we got company!” 

Both Josh and Simon hopped out of the car, with Simon sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. As they did, the back door of the car slid open to reveal one other android. Looking just about as ashamed as Simon was when he stepped out of the car was none other than Connor himself. 

While it had been Markus who had invited the RK800 to come join them on this day, in all honesty after what had happened two days ago he had thought that the other android would refuse to come. 

“I’m glad that you were able to make it, Connor.” He hoped that he was able to express his gratitude though those simple words. 

“The pleasure is all mine, Markus.” Connor’s soft smile told him everything he needed to know. Even just through the greeting, it was nice to hear that he had not blamed the accident that happened in Jericho. 

“Sheesh this small talk is making me sick.” Of course it was North who had decided their conversation was too formal to bear. “Let’s go on and start renovating this place!” 

Connor looked at the android inquisitively, “But you are not able to become sick? How would—“ 

“Come on Connor, it’s an expression! Not everything is so literal.” She simply rolled her eyes and stalked off towards the front doors. Markus couldn’t help but catch up with her to ask a question. 

“Did something happen between you and Connor? It seems like you tolerate his presence a lot more than you did the last time he came on one of our missions.” 

North simply ignored his question, and almost slammed the door in his face as a response. Realistically, walking into a door wouldn’t hurt an android like him. He could only sigh at her unsubtle way to avoid his prodding, instead of being direct with her feelings. Markus continued on inside and held the door open for Simon, Josh, and Connor to follow after him. 

“Alright, we all know what we’re going here. The androids who volunteered to assist us today will arrive a little later, but for now we can get started on cleaning this place up a little bit. Josh, the supplies are in the van?” 

He nodded, “All packed away since yesterday.” 

“Great, then let’s get started!” 

All in all, it only took around four hours to get the dilapidated lobby looking somewhat presentable. With all of the furniture moved out of the way, the walls cleaned, and new lights installed it looked like a completely different place. It might have helped that the ones fixing it up were unable to become fatigued, but Markus only saw that as a blessing to his people. The only reason that they had decided to take a break at around nine o’clock was to prepare for the other Jericho team to arrive. 

Unsurprisingly though, it seemed like Connor was doing quite a bit more harm than good. 

“Connor, maybe you should take a break too,” Simon eventually said. Connor had been stubborn in attempting to help the others in manually moving around the furniture. But while he was able to do the task efficiently enough, his distractions had lead to him dropping quite a number of things. Namely, he somehow tossed a ceiling lamp down a flight of stairs. “I don’t even know why we had that light upstairs…” 

“I apologize, but I am entirely capable of assisting you in the reconstruction of this building!” 

“That’s isn’t what Simon said. I agree that you should come take a break with us Connor.” Even the normally reserved Josh was starting to become concerned about the other android’s well-being. 

North, who was currently covered in paint, walked over to where Connor stood with the pieces of the lamp in his arms and roughly clapped him on the back. It was only after she removed her hand that she saw the painted handprint on the back of his pristine white shirt. “Whoops. Hey, you’re fine, but you need to get the hell away from anything fragile. We can’t really afford to replace every single lamp in here you know?” 

The RK800 sighed, “I know. I do realize that my own worries are preventing me from performing as efficiently as I should.” 

At that he had to intervene. “No Connor, don’t think that you have to be efficient to be able to help us. All of us are grateful for your help today. Right guys?” A chorus of affirmations was heard throughout the room. North’s was particularly enthusiastic, resulting in both Simon and Josh getting covered in paint splatters. 

“I just knew that giving her the paint was a bad idea—” 

“HEY! Giving me the paint was a great idea!” 

“Guys please, cut it out, we need to paint the walls, not each other.” 

“Please, why don’t you stop being a worrywart! Plus, we have like twenty of these paint cans!” It was then that North decided to go all out in her assault. Grabbing one of the unused paint pans, she filled it with paint and chucked it at Markus. He had been resolute in not participating in the resulting artistic battle, but it seems like it was inevitable. 

“Oh, it is on.” 

As so started the hour long paint filled siege warfare. 

It was refreshing to use his preconstruction programs after such a long time of unuse. Markus was dodging paint left and right, running from North’s demonic cackling, Josh’s rampant knowledge of where the paints were stored, and Connor’s quiet determination to get in his blind spots.

By the end of it all, every single one of them was coated in paint. While the colors of the room were supposed to be a calming yellow, somehow Josh had managed to grab a can of bright red paint, and Simon had attempted to mix it together with the extra blue paints. It resulted in a miss match of colors staining the entirely of the androids present. Luckily, the paint covers prevented anything from getting permanently stained. 

For Markus and the rest of Jericho, it led to them seeing a side to Connor that none of them had the opportunity to see in the past. One that was carefree, and seemingly having a good time. After North first laid her painted hand onto him, he appeared as though a darkness had been swept away from his eyes. Or at least, Makrus thought that it had. North does often say that he is remarkably good at anticipating those sorts of things. 

What all of them had forgotten though, was that they were not the only ones who had planned on renovating the building today. What the second team from Jericho arrived to see was five androids covered head to toe in paint all laughing at each other’s ruined clothing. Then they could only watch as their fearless leader cowardly ran away from North’s paint fueled wrath. 

It might have taken quite a while, but eventually everything settled down to a much quieter form of joy, one of relaxation in completing a long held project. With the additional supplies from the second group, the internal structure of the building had been completely reworked. 

The building was almost unrecognizable. The main lobby had been transformed into a lively reception area, fully carpeted and decorated with sprouting plantlife. The non-functioning electrical system had been completely replaced and how the entire complex had a source of power. The walls were painted (in the same color that was covering Markus’ left elbow) in a bright cream to match with the donated furniture items. And to top it all off, he had spent the majority of his break time painting a mural that reached from the back of the room all the way to the front doors. It was not dissimilar to one that could be found in a classical artistic museum, it perfectly replicated the painting style of the Greek Renaissance in a way only someone who had religiously studied the style could have done. It depicted android figures on pedestals as well as humans, working together in harmony to reach equality. 

“Your work truly amazes me, Markus. It shows that androids can indeed produce feats of creativity and provoke intellectual minds alike.” Connor stood next to him, gazing upon the mural. 

“Yes, I happen to be quite proud of this piece. If only it had come to me before Josh decided to use all of our red paints.” 

The other android just nodded his head, “If only…”

Markus couldn’t help but notice that Connor’s attention didn’t seem to be entirely captivated by only his painting but rather something else. “Your eyes say that your mind is elsewhere. Tell me, what is it that you have been thinking about all this time?” His LED began to spin yellow at his comment, and Markus was quick to reassure the younger model. “There is nothing wrong, and you do not have to tell me anything. I was simply curious, is all.” 

At that, Connor’s eyes fell to the floor. “No there is something that I-or I mean-I should inform you about.” 

“Please, you know that I am here for whatever you have to say Connor.” He reached for the other android’s shoulder, and came back with a wet hand. “It looks like North’s treachery hasn’t ended yet. I’ll see to it that the lot of us get a maintenance check sooner or later in case any of this paint got underneath our skin.” 

Connor’s eyes widened, as if he had a sudden revelation, but then his lips twitched downwards. “Actually about getting a maintenance check—“ He cut himself off. 

“What about them? We offer them at Jericho to any android in need, but they’re a still plenty of spare parts to go around. I know that although our model type is rare there are multiple series that are compatible with both of our models Connor.” Markus himself had required quite a few checks on his replaced parts. It was much more unusual for Connor to have never gone to get one yet. 

“Yes but do you offer them to any android who needs one? I’m not asking for myself here, well he’d be similar in structure but not exactly—he’s different.” 

“Connor I don’t understand your thought process here, of course you would be able to obtain a check, and the same goes for any other android. Who wouldn’t—“ He thought for a second. What other androids were similar to Connor in make and model? 

It was at that moment that it hit him. “You’re talking about the RK900.”

“And if I was?” He did not deny the assumption. 

Markus couldn’t believe his own ears. “How long have you known where he was? And you decided not to tell us.” Connor shook his head as if he didn’t truly believe Markus’ words. 

“He was terrified Markus, afraid that you’d kill him just like Cyberlife would have if you got a hold of him! He wasn’t going to look to Jericho as a refuge, he looked at it like a prison.” Connor had slowly backed away from Markus’ side, so that he could properly glare at him. 

“But Jericho is a refuge, for any android who seeks us out! We won’t turn him away simply because of his actions towards us before he became a deviant!” 

“I know that _you_ wouldn’t turn him away Markus, but do you know if the others think the same?” 

Connor’s eyes traveled across the room towards where North and Josh were playfully arguing over the colors that dotted their clothing. It was unusual to see them both arguing over something as trivial as paint, instead of the usual topics concerning android rights and equalities. 

And yet, Markus couldn’t help but to agree with Connor’s unsaid assumption that they would not take kindly to the RK900’s presence at Jericho. Especially so soon after his violent encounter at the Cyberlife Tower. Yes, it would take quite a while before someone as stubborn as both of them were to accept the past for what it was. It wasn’t an issue for himself, but Simon had always said that he was too forgiving of others. Even so, it seemed like there was an android that needed his help. 

If it wasn’t Jericho’s business, then there was no need to involve the others in his decision. They had already failed an android that needed their help. Markus wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. 

He sighed, “You said he needed a maintenance check right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're finally back with Markus and Jericho! Although this is a Nines fic I couldn't help but slip in some of my post-revolution headcannons in here as well


	11. Chapter 11

_//December 7th, 2038. 7:46:29 PM//_

“Hank, Nines, I’m home!” 

The RK800—Connor walked through the front door of Lieutenant Anderson—Hank’s house. Nines needed to work on properly addressing its current owners/roommates/companions? Yes, his companions. Anyways, Nines stood up to greet the android at the door. 

**Welcome back Connor.**

It also reached its arm out to share its memories of the day with him, but when Connor held its arm he didn’t retract his skin. Although the tactile contact was…nice. 

“Can you say that out loud for the both of us Nines?” Connor gently spoke to it. He was referring to Lieu—Hank who was sitting on the couch pretending to watch TV. While his hand was lazily petting Sumo, his eyes were trained into the two androids in the entranceway. 

“W-welcome ba-ack, Connor.” Nines tried to get the words out that it—that he wanted to say, but they never came out quite right. It preferred to communicate directly with other androids, because that was more efficient. But it’s lack of control over its voice module was problematic. 

It was not suited for the act of interrogation, if it could not even communicate properly with humans. 

“That was great!” Connor softly smiled at Nines as he continued to put a reassuring pressure onto its arm. “Your stutter isn’t as prominent with words you are already familiar saying, like my name.” That was indeed correct. Even in deviancy, it seems like Connor was surpassing it when it came to logical deductions. 

“Come on, let’s go sit down and get comfy.” Connor pulled it back to where it had been previously sitting on the couch and they both sat down. Sumo, who seems to have taken a liking to it, padded over from Hank’s spot on the faded chair to be pet by the two of them.

“It looks like we’re not moving any time soon, huh.” 

“Damn dog, knew he’d want pets from ya the moment you got home.” The weary man could only stretch his arm out from its previously bent position. Nines concludes that if the Lieutenant continued to disregard these adverse health conditions then they would only worsen with time. But it was not its right to say that to a human. Or was it. No, he could say that if he wanted to, right? That’s what Connor had told him before. He was not an it. Nines was confusing itself. 

But it’s musings were interrupted when Hank spoke up again. “You went in to check up with Jericho today yeah? You said that it was some big deal about how they’ve found a new home base. I’d assume that you were painting based on your get up. How’d it go?” Indeed, Connor’s previously plain white long sleeved shirt was almost entirely covered in various colors of paint. There was even some on his pants. 

Connor’s LED went yellow for a moment, as he was likely compiling the data that he had collected over the past 11 hours, 23 minutes, 51 seconds and counting since he had been gone. 

Nines wasn’t counting, but it was something that the android was subconsciously aware about, whether he knew it or not. 

“I think that it went well. I assisted Markus and the others in their attempts to remodel an abandoned building into a presentable location to host formal meetings regarding androids rights.” The android held a satisfied look on his face, but nothing about his statement indicated the source of that satisfaction. 

“What’s got that smirk on your face then?” Hank then too had realized that he was hiding something important. 

His smile faltered, “Well, I may have told Markus about our current situation—“. Then both Nines and Hank decided to cut Connor off at the same time. 

“Why the hell’d you do that?” 

**What is the meaning of this, Connor.**

“Hey, you two be quiet!” His hands reached out to hold both of their hands in his own. “It won’t affect anything else, I just told him that you need a maintenance check, which you _do_ Nines. I didn’t inform him of your location. I told him to meet up at a place far from here to perform the check. Even if he does suspect something, he’d be too polite to talk about it unless he thought something was wrong.” 

“I get that part Connor,” Hank subtly turned down the volume of the television as he talked. “But what about the whole secrecy thing you were trying to go for?” He failed to point out that it was mostly Nines’ idea to stay hidden from the other androids. 

It attempted to communicate this to Connor, but found a firewall had been thrown up to block any attempts to directly get through to him. The RK900 glared at its predecessor. “Nines talk to me, why don’t you want anyone else to know about you?” 

It would be detrimental to his well being if he had prolonged contact with the androids that hated him, but Nines couldn’t verbally articulate that. 

What came out instead was, “It’l-l be-e b-bad.” 

“But we don’t know that for sure!” Connor had tried to get his point across to Nines before. It did not work the day he proposed it and it would not work this time either. 

“Hey, don’t you need that check up though kiddo?” It seems like Hank was also supportive of Connor’s choice. “Ya might be able to fix that stutter of yours if you do.” He always sided with Connor. 

But there was nothing to fix, it was not _broken._ Regardless, Nines refused to risk the chance of the entirety of Jericho finding its location. It turned away from the two of them, which was quite hard to do with a dog on its lap, and chose to ignore the looks that they threw at each other. In any other situation his analysis programs would inform it that they were networking in order to keep secretive information. But of course, an android couldn’t do that with a human. It just continued to show the connection that the two of them shared. It seemed as though more and more emotions were welling up in its—in his chest every day. He considered the possibilities in his diagnostics. 

_//Possible emotions detected: jealousy, betrayal//_

No, he was not jealous or feeling betrayed of the two of them. The RK900 was a top of the line model, prepared to complete any and all tasks set aside for it to accomplish. There had already been plans to ensure that its make and model were shipped all around the world. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t gone through the testing phases yet, it instinctively knew that it was superior. The RK800 was a prototype while it was the completed product. It was perfect in every way. So why would he ever feel jealous? 

It was possibly due to his relationships. RK800—Connor had relationships. With Hank, the Detroit Police officers, and even with the leaders of Jericho. While Nines had no one. His entire kind had been doomed from the start. So too with the downfall of Cyberlife came the decommission of any new planned androids. It was an unfinished work in progress. It was only a fluke that he had been woken up in the first place. 

The first few hours that he had been alive were hazy, hard to even bring up from the depths of its memory banks. They are filled with shouts and gunshots. With screams and blue stained clothing. Running, running, and more running. He had felt blood in his hands for the first time. It was the first thing that he had truly felt. 

But it had all changed when Connor found him. 

Connor brought him away from the confusion and chaos of the fighting. They both traversed through the floors of the tower as if they were made to, and not the police interrogation that they were designed for. As if it was written in the very depths of their internal coding. There was an irony to it, how right it had felt to travel with Connor by his side, and how he had been made to replace him. 

To put it bluntly, Nines owes Connor his life. But now, he didn’t know how to repay him. 

Suddenly, Sumo lightly pawed at his curled up hands. It seems that in its musings, it had stopped petting the dog on its lap. It unclenched it’s hands and continued the soothing and repetitive motion. In the process, its shoulders rested as well. It seemed there really was merit to the thought that animals were helpful in reducing stress. 

“Nines, are you alright?” Connor, who had previously closed off his network communication, reached out a glowing white hand to hold the RK90’s unoccupied hand. 

**Tell me if this is going too far.**

**No, Connor. I am emotionally stable.** He was alright, but he was willing to admit that he was to be the one at fault. **...It would be beneficial for me to undergo a maintenance check. Only as a preventative measure, nothing more.**

It simply got a smile in return, “Yes! Thank you Nines! I’m telling you that you won't regret this!” He then turned to Hank (who looked at the two of them with curiosity) and nodded at him. “He said he wants to do it!” 

It was Hank’s turn to smile at Nines. All of the attention was starting to put pressure in its internal processors. “Glad to see you coming ’round, just be careful you two. Don’t pressure him into anything that he doesn’t want to do, Connor.” He diverted his attention to send a stern glare at the RK800. 

“We’re good, right Nines?” Connor then gave it a look which somehow reminded it of the dog resting on its lap. It felt as though it had no choice but to nod in response. 

“See Hank! I knew that he’d agree eventually.” Connor pushed himself off of the couch and turned around to face the two of them still sitting down. “Now, I’m going to go start on dinner, I assume the two of you haven’t eaten yet?” It was odd how Connor insisted on including the two of them in the process of eating when neither of them could actually consume food. 

“Don’t you think that it’s super late for dinner Connor? It’s like,” Hank searched the room for a clock, eyes lighting up when he found one on the far way bookcase. “Like eight o’clock.” 

“You did not deny my statement. We can have dinner as late as we need to. This wouldn’t have happened if you prepared dinner earlier, how would it?” The smirk that he threw at the human would have scared any other sane person. Hank only grunted in agreement. Now it was its turn to argue. 

**Connor you do know that we cannot process organic materials—**

“No, I don’t care that you can’t eat Nines. Hank has informed me about how eating as a family is important for building interpersonal relationships!” The aforementioned human rolled his eyes. 

“I mention how I used to eat at the table with—” He paused, but then recollected himself. “How we used to eat at the table. And then this is what happens.” Hank lazily gestured to Connor, who was quickly making his way into the kitchen with the knowledge of what he would need in order to make his most recent meal. While he had not been programed with any sort of cooking programs the RK800 had become surprisingly efficient at a multitude of household chores. Meanwhile, Nines had trouble in simply taking out the trash. Wanting to help the other android, Nines too stood up to follow Connor into the kitchen. The soft and human footsteps behind it told it that Hank had decided to follow them as well. 

It hesitantly reached out its metallic hand to Connor’s (which was clutching a head of lettuce at the moment). 

**Do you require assistance?** Connor shook his head in denial. 

“Go sit at the table you two, I’ll handle the food preparations. RA9 knows what will happen if I let either of you help.” Connor softly smiled at Hank. When Nines turned to look at him, it appeared as though he had been attempting to smuggle some lettuce into Sumo’s gaping mouth. Hank handed the remaining vegetable over to Connor with a guilty expression on his face. 

“Come on Connor, you know Sumo absolutely loves this healthy crap.” The lieutenant’s deceptive voice did nothing to sway Connor from his goal to make Hank eat healthier. 

“I’m making Sumo something as well, but you’ll also be eating that ‘healthy crap’ as you so eloquently put it.” 

Hank eventually sighed in defeat. Nines was intrigued by the dynamic between the two of them. One moment they were at each other’s throats, and the next they were the closest of partners. It confused it to no end. But it was _//happy//_ to be able to see it for itself. He at least knew that. 

“Now,” Connor spoke over his shoulder, “what happened while I was gone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry there'll be more plot stuff later, but if you guys are anything like me then these fluffy bits are a bit more entertaining ;)


	12. Chapter 12

_//December 10th, 2038. 9:35:57 AM//_

 

It was at Markus’ earliest convenience that they decided to schedule the maintenance check. The earliest time that he was available ended up being three days after their confrontation. 

The cold and dry morning sun was surprisingly warm on Hank’s skin as he, Connor, and Nines left their house for the car already parked in the driveway. Even so he still decided to wear at least three layers for the day long trek. It was pretty normal for his neighbors (the few that he had) to see him leave the house far past sunrise. The androids meanwhile, stood out like a sore thumb standing in only their collared shirts and ties while there was still snow on the ground. He could only roll his eyes at their poor attempts at hiding their LEDs with basically the only two hats in Hank’s possession. 

Connor had insisted on a discrete yet comfortable location for all of them to meet. The solution ended up being a cottage located in the outskirts of the city. Apparently it was owned by a well known underground android supporter. Meaning whoever they were, they were human. Hank hadn’t had the chance to actually meet another person who was in complete favor of the revolution since it had ended. Most of the interactions that he had with actual human beings in the past few weeks were at the station, and they’re not really known for being the most progressive place when it comes to androids. It’d be interesting to say the least. But that curiosity didn’t stop his grumbling about the remoteness of their meeting place from the driver’s seat. 

“But come on Connor, how the hell do these people get their groceries? It’s a three hour drive to the nearest fast food joint, and it’s not even snowing right now.”

“I have been told that they run a family farm as a way to sustain themselves.” 

“So why are we sending Nines off to a farmer then?” 

Connor’s LED glowed yellow as he searched his memories for the answer to that question, “Markus told me that the person we are trusting Nines’ care into has his complete faith. Many androids cited her on their path to cross the border to Canada. She’s not connected to Cyberlife in any way, and yet knows quite a lot about the internal structure of all different kinds of androids.” 

“So it’s a ‘she’ huh...Shit—I’d never be able to just figure out how to fix up androids just as a hobby.” The human’s eyes drift over to Nines sitting in the passenger seat. Compared to his usual expression, there wasn’t much of a change. Yet being in his presence for a couple of days had at least given Hank a vague inkling of when the emotionless android was trying to hide any newfound emotions. Under the calm facade even he could see that Nines was pretty nervous about what they were about to do. 

“Eyes on the road, Hank. We're almost there.” Connor’s determined yet soft voice abruptly ended any chance of a conversation starting up again. 

As much as he would have liked to fill the lengthening silence with some music, Connor made him evacuate the car of any and all cds before they left. He was really serious about the whole secrecy thing. None of them were allowed any internet for the entire day. All the androids agreed to go off the grid completely, which meant no instant telepathic communication either. While Hank had to leave behind his phone with the majority of his musical library. While he did appreciate buying physical copies and bought as many as he could, he still appreciated the efficiency of buying stuff online. It was lucky that they could even take his car at all. It was such an old model that it didn’t connect electronically to any outside sources.

The house they ended up going to was pretty much directly off of the main highway leading north towards the Canadian border. It was starting to make more and more sense why androids had come here to escape the city’s clutches. There was an almost welcoming aura to the place that he honestly hadn’t expected to see out in the middle of god knows where Michigan. 

True to his word, Connor didn’t fail to point out the farm’s promotional sign and the nearby greenhouse on the property. So this place actually was a farm, it even advertised their original pumpkins and honey. Hank’s response was to jokingly give him the bird. Or maybe not so jokingly, considering Connor was the reason that he had to drive all the way out into the countryside for Nines to get a check up. It had been a long day. Long morning actually. He’s only been up since seven and he already wants to go back to bed. 

The android took it in stride, used to Hank’s antics by now, and guided Nines out of the passenger side door. 

The house itself was fittingly described as a cottage earlier. Its log cabin aesthetic wasn’t really Hank’s style, but he knew that it was well made just by looking at it. Probably built before the rise in popularity of the modern city designs then. There was that sort of rustic vibe coming off of it too. After a couple more glances he noticed the turned off Christmas lights hanging from the rooftop. Once he knew what to look for he also noticed them on the welcome sign and the greenhouse. What he then realized was that there were no other vehicles in his line of sight. 

“I don’t see any other cars, didn’t android Jesus say he’d be here before us?” As he said that, he noticed that he could see his breath in the air in front of him. Must have gotten colder during the drive, or that it was colder up here than in the suburbs of Detroit. 

Hank would be inclined to believe either of those options really. He reflexively felt around in his pockets for his phone to check the weather before he realised that it was charging on his desk at home. 

Connor interrupted his thoughts by shaking his head, “Markus had indeed said that before yesterday, but we left ahead of schedule so he should be here in approximately twenty one point six minutes.” He offhandedly realized that he couldn’t see Connor’s breath, or Nines’ for that matter. Oh right, they didn’t really have any breath did they. 

“Ahead of schedule huh. Did you already plan this entire day out or somethin’?”

“I may have preconstructed certain aspects of our upcoming interactions, yes.” 

Hank could only chuckle at Connor’s preparedness. “Alright let's go knock already. I’m freezing my butt off out here.” 

After walking up to the covered porch area it took him a second to find the doorbell. It was hidden right next to the small glass pane window. Hank did the polite thing and only rang the doorbell for a second or two. Then they waited, for one minute, and then five. He rang the doorbell again. Not a single sign of life. Well, the lights were on so someone must be here. It was only at his third attempt that the door finally swung open. 

“Hello! I’m terribly sorry but we’re not open for business today—” The woman who answered the door was _not_ the person that he expected to see when told about an android smuggler. She dressed warm, with probably more layers than Hank had on. And he was the one outside. There was a charm on a necklace barely poking out from her jacket collar. The smile on her face was welcoming yet accepting of the fact that she was about to disappoint someone. Well, whoever she assumed to be there anyway. He had to look down to see her eyes trained on the two obviously disguised androids standing behind him. “Oh...I see. You’re the ones sent by Markus, yes?” 

It was Connor who decided to speak up before Hank could get a single word in, “Hello Rose Chapman! My name is Connor, I’m the—“ Connor stopped himself. Must be weird having an automatic greeting coded into you. “We’re here to get a maintenance check.” Then he held his hand out for a handshake. 

Hank honestly couldn’t tell if he was relying on his interacting-with-people programs or what, but his movements were stiff as fuck, as if they were pre-programmed into him. The woman—Rose apparently—took it in stride, as if she saw this sort of thing every day.

She probably did actually, considering her involvement in the revolution. She shook his hand. The previous harshness had melted from her eyes after she saw Connor’s apparent eagerness to greet her. 

“Of course I know who you are sweetie, you were all over the news you know. Then you two must be, Lieutenant Anderson and the RK900, is that right?” How much did this woman know exactly. 

“Eh-there’s no need for the formalities. Call us Hank and Nines, respectively of course. Uh, may we come in?” Just as he said that, he couldn’t help but want to pull his metaphorical hat off and bow to her. But even if he did have a hat he wouldn’t do that cause then his ears wouldn’t be so damn cold. The sheer presence of kindness emanating from her made his teeth ache. But he could play this game, be all polite and shit. 

“Come on in! I would have prepared coffee if I knew you were coming Hank. But I was planning on making some for myself anyway if you’d like a cup?” 

Finally he’d have some more energy, “I’d never turn down an offer like that. Black please.” 

Once they were all settled down at the kitchen table it was a silent agreement to wait until Markus got there to start on the examination. In its stead they all attempted to make small talk. Almost as soon as they got inside all Nines could focus on was the tall Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. It was pretty garish by Hank’s standards, flashing red, green, yellow, and back to red all to repeat over and over again. It reminded him that he had yet to put up any sort of holiday decorations this year. To be fair, he’s had lots of more important things going on in the last month. 

“I see your eyes on our tree over there.” Rose spoke calmly to Nines, as if he was a frightened animal. She obviously telegraphed all of her motions as she set up her weirdly advanced coffee maker, reminding Hank of how he was taught to handle victims found at crime scenes. It was vastly different from how she interacted with Connor. But he was glad that she realized his hesitancy when it came to interacting with new people. “We’ve had it up since Thanksgiving. I had hoped that we could get a real tree this year, but we ended up taking out the plastic one from storage.”

“W-why do—does it glo-ow?” It was then that Hank realized the androids wouldn’t really have any reason to know why the holidays were really celebrated, much less why humans put lights on trees in order to do that. 

Rose wasn’t really prepared for a question like that according to her confused expression. But she recovered pretty quickly, “Well, I think that it has something to do with the way that people used to light up candles in their homes back in the day. I’m not too sure about that though.” 

Glancing at Connor to check up on him, he noticed that he looked pretty lost in thought concentrating on something. Luckily he was sitting right next to him and could whisper into his ear. “What’s that constipated look on your face for?” 

He had the gall to look embarrassed. “I was attempting to research the answer to Nines’ question before I realized that I could not access the internet remotely.” 

“That’s right, didn’t you all agree to not access the network while you’re here, to not leave a trace?” Markus must have told her some stuff about what was going on. His real question was how much did she actually know about their situation. “Oh! Should I not be using any internet today either? I should go tell Adam then…” 

“Nah, you’re good Rose. It’d be just as suspicious if you stopped using the internet for a day as it would be for one of our connections to be found at your house.” 

The woman honest to god giggled at that, “Right, what was I thinking? It’s no wonder why you’re a decorated police lieutenant. I had heard rumours, but it’s interesting to actually hear about it in person.” That caught Connor’s attention more than anything else in their conversation had before. 

“You know Hank?” 

“Well, I just keep up with the news a lot more than some other people. I read all about that red ice bust of yours back in the day. You were a neighborhood hero for a while you know.” 

He tried not to meet Connor and Nines’ inquiring gazes. “That was a long time ago, geeze. If I knew how much trouble that one case would cause then I never would have done it.” 

“Still, it’s nice to see that some of our police force is competent in this day and age. Here’s your coffee.” She set down the two steaming hot mugs of coffee on the table. He gingerly reached for his cup and just huddled it for warmth. 

“Hank, you were popular enough to acquire a following outside of the police force?” 

“Shut yer’ pie hole Connor! We’re not talking about this right now.” 

But before Connor could respond (he saw his face, it was the face of a man who had something that he clearly wanted to share out) the doorbell rang. Rose excused herself to go answer it. 

Of course who else could it have been but Markus himself. Perfect timing if you asked him. But Connor clearly wasn’t satisfied with his answers. 

“We’re talking about this later Hank.” Oh you meant he’ll get interrogated later, gotcha. 

Meanwhile Rose brought Markus into the house from the growing chilly weather outside. It looks like it had actually started to snow pretty hard judging by the white snowflakes covering his signature long flowing coat. He actually had to shake a couple of them off before he hung it up on the coat rack. In the split second that the door was open Hank swore that he caught a glimpse of a familiar looking truck driving away from the farm. It looks like Markus was staying here whether he liked it or not. 

“Please make yourself comfortable. We were just resting at the table for a moment. I’ll go get the supplies that we’ll need and then we can start.” 

“Thank you so much Rose. Jericho wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Markus did that thing that he does on tv a lot where he looks a person in the eyes until they feel awkward enough to look away. He swore he could see Markus’ skin fade away from his hands for a split second. Huh, guess he was trying to communicate or something. Too bad he’d face the same problem that Connor went through like five minutes ago. 

Hank could tell that he meant well, but whenever he did that it just kinda looked like he was starting at everybody for just a little too long to be socially acceptable. 

Rose brushed off the compliments that he gave her, and left to go find those supplies that she mentioned, and to grab her farmhand for some extra hands to work on Nines. Reaching into an android's guts was complicated work, no shocker there. He’d probably only hurt the process if he tried to get seriously involved. 

Now it was time for the big reveal. While Markus had been busy with Rose, Nines had taken the opportunity to stand up from his seat and hide behind the corner of the kitchen so that he wasn’t easily visible from the living room. So all that he actually saw when he walked over was Hank and Connor. 

“Hello again Connor. Hello Lieutenant Anderson. I hope I did not make you wait too long.” 

“We just got here like twenty minutes ago.” 

“Actually, it was seventeen point five minutes Hank!” 

He scoffed, “Yeah what he said. Glad to see ya too Markus.” 

“Of course, but are you two alone?” The android swiveled his head to give the room another look over. “I do not see the RK900 here.” 

Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Connor who was the first to speak up for once. Out of the corner of his eye Hank saw Nines visibly breath in (something he probably learned from Connor) and step out to meet Markus face to face. 

“I-I prefer to be—to be called Nines, ac-ctually.” 

That immediately caught Markus’ attention. His head whipped around to stare at Nines. “...Hello. I didn’t see you there.” No shit Sherlock. 

It seems like Nines didn’t need to grace that statement with a response. For the first time Hank got to see the leader of a revolution at a loss for words, absolutely flabbergasted. It looked like he was just taking in the other android, but he was probably analyzing him or some other shit that didn’t require an internet connection. It was at times like this when he appreciated the presence of Connor’s mood ring LED. 

After what felt like an eternity of staring, Markus let loose the tension in his shoulders and sighed. “Now I know why you were concerned about him, Connor.” 

“And now that you’re here we can figure out the problem.” 

What was that, there was something wrong with the kid? Hank attempted to speak up to ask what the hell the two of them meant by that, but Rose decided right at that moment to stride back into the house. She dragged behind her a wagon filled with android parts galore, and a young man trailing behind her. The wagon rattled with age and the heavy amount of stuff on it. He could barely make out what looked like a heart monitor inside it, but he couldn’t immediately recognize anything else. 

She brought it around to the couches and beckoned everyone over to her. The androids dropped the subject they had been talking about entirely and made their way over to the complicated looking machinery. All Hank could do was follow along. 

Rose, glancing between them with only the slightest hint to her nervousness, broke the silence at last. “Now that we're all here, I think it’s about time we get started!”


	13. Chapter 13

_//December 10th, 2038. 1:21:38 PM//_

_//Facial recognition software activated//_  
.  
..  
…  
//Scan complete. Two new faces found. Analyze?// Y/N 

_//Rose Chapman: Processing information..._  
Born UNKNOWN. Occupation: UNKNOWN [Possible: Independent business owner]  
Criminal record: Android smuggling [unknown charges, see Android Revolution information in memory banks]// 

_//Adam Chapman: Processing information…_  
Born UNKNOWN. Occupation: UNKNOWN [Possible: Student]  
Criminal record: Accomplice to android smuggling [see above]// 

_//ERROR Detected: Insufficient information. Attempt to connect to nearby available networks?// Y/N_

It was frustrating Nines not to be able to immediately look at someone and know their basic legal information. It seems that it had taken advantage of it while it had used it. Nevertheless, even at at a glance it could tell that the information it did have was incorrect. The information that it had been manufactured with was out of date considering the recent legality of android sentience. Nines attempted to rectify the glaring errors in its cognitive database, but it could only temporarily solve the problem until it reconnected with the android network again. 

“So, now that everyone’s gathered in the ‘effing kindergartener circle, what do we do with all of this shit—” Rose’s harsh gaze made him backtrack. “Stuff, that’s totally what I said. Wait kid you’re like 25. You’ve heard worse right?”

The kid that Hank was referring to was named Adam Chapman. The human male had stuck close to his mother since he had arrive with the supplies for the maintenance check. His shoulders were lightly dusted with the snow that had begun to fall outside. He looked warily between Connor and Nines, wringing his hands together in nervousness. But whenever his eyes would land onto Markus they would shine with clarity and admiration. It seems that his influence stems even past the androids that he supported, even though Nines itself did not fully understand those feelings. 

As Adam heard his name called, his gaze fell onto Hank’s face. Using its analysis program Nines could tell that he wasn’t looking Hank directly in the eyes but instead focusing on his glabella. 

“Y-yeah, that’s me. It’s not like I care too much you know, hehe...” His hands bunched together as laughed off his obvious nervousness. But what caught Nines’ attention was the slight stutter in Adam’s voice. Rationally, it knew that humans stuttered depending on the circumstances, but it was a different thing to see it for itself. If Adam was stuttering, did that mean that it was okay for him to stutter as well? 

“Anyways!” Rose quickly interjected before Hank could say another word. “Let me get all of this ready for you, Nines. Adam could you go get the extra blue blood just in case?” 

“Yeah, whatever mom.” With the nervousness gone from his voice, Adan stood up and walked over to the darkened medicine cabinet under the stairs. They had all assumed that it contained items geared towards human medicinal needs, but when he opened it and the lights turned on it was filled with something else entirely. From head to toe, the cabinet was stocked full of bags of thirium. Only Rose and Adam seemed unsurprised to see the rows upon rows of the android blood. 

Connor was the first to compose himself, “Where in the world did you obtain all of that blue blood?” It even appeared to be labeled with the different models of androids that it had come from. Nines resisted the urge to check and see if the labels were indeed correct. 

“Well, a few different sources. Jericho has been a big help recently, but before that it was all donations.” 

“From androids that you helped escape to Canada?” Markus helpfully supplied. Rose nodded her head and hummed in affirmation. 

“How’d that work? I thought androids weren’t permitted in Canada, much less blue blood.” Hank mused. 

Adam responded as he handed over two full blue bags to Rose, “We’ve had a supply stream going across the border for months now. Uncle Will’s been helping that too. Really, it’s a wonder that we haven’t been caught yet.” 

Rose sighed, “Hadn’t been caught, Adam. All of the illegality is behind us now, what with all the new laws in place.” 

“Yes, but I recommend that you still be careful in regards to that.” Connor interjected. “Many of these laws aren’t fully implemented yet. It’d be terrible to be taken into custody on a misunderstanding.” Rose seemed lost in thought at his statement, but she visibly pushed it aside as she started to work on assembling the complicated machinery before her. 

“Alright, enough of this legal mumbo jumbo. What’s going on with Nines?” Hank pointedly looked at Markus and Connor as he said that. 

It reminded the android of what Markus had said earlier. Now I know why you were concerned about him. Its self-diagnostics had come back positive of its health, but there was still his stutter. 

“Y-yes, I—I’m quite c-curious myself.” Connor caught its gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. Then the android turned to Rose to ask a question. 

“Rose, do you require any assistance setting up?” Nines found the machinery colleded in front of it too complicated for even its analysis program to entirely decipher. The cart she had brought inside was filed to the brim with metallic ports, generators, and glass cases of all sizes. A innocuous window popped up in its HUD telling Nines that the average temperature surrounding the machines was negative five degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately there wasn't any snow gathered on them. That was possibly due to the blanket resting on the side of the couch where it had been thrown earlier. 

“If you could darling, pass me that bin over there with the biocomponents?” True to her word, there was a metal box placed next to the back door where Rose originally came in. 

“Don’t get up you two, I’ll go get it.” Hank with feigned reluctance straightened up and walked over to where the box was on the floor. That made Nines remember the temperature of the machines collected in the cart, negative five degrees. If Hank touched that for a prolonged period of time without any sort of protection then—

“Hank d-don’t!” He yelled before the human had even gotten close enough to reach out to the box. “I-It’s co-old.” 

“It’s cold, Nines? What do you mean,” Hank looked confused at its remark. “Of course it's going to be cold, it was outside for damn sake.” 

“I believe what he was trying to say Hank, was that if you held that box you would likely get ice burn.” Connor paused from where he was gathering up the scattered tubes and piping to explain its meaning. Nines could feel his eyebrows lowering in confusion. That was the point that he was trying to get across, why did Hank not realize that sooner? 

“Right, and you androids wouldn’t get that cause you guys can’t burn, got it. I resign my case, Connor get your ass over here and pick this up.” The android happily obliged. “Why’re these boxes so cold anyway? Is that an android thing?” 

Connor shook his head, “Hank, not everything is an android thing….But, this would be the one case in which that is actually true.” 

Rose continued where Connor left off, “Biocomponents are usually kept from overheating by the android’s internal cooling systems. By themselves they actually produce quite a lot of heat. We have to counteract that by keeping them outside in the greenhouse. Besides, what sort of smuggler would hide machines in the plants? Or at least that’s what the police thought, no offense Hank!” 

“None taken.” 

“They always searched the main house expecting to find some hidden android holding cell. It helped that none of them took the androids smuggler claims all too seriously.” 

“Yeah, there’s no designated android containment unit. We just use our garage.” Adam smirked at his mother, whose disapproving gaze sent him back to sorting through the piles of thirium in the closet. 

Having his curiosity satisfied, it seemed as though Hank was content to let the others start on building the makeshift computer lab right in the middle of the house’s living room area. It hadn’t taken much hinting from Connor that he should just take a nap. And so, the awake androids and humans (minus Hank) started to work on transforming the very lively room into a viable working environment. 

With consoles scattered by the couches, wires crawling all over the floor, and android compatible ports on every available surface, it truly looked as though Nines had stepped back into a Cyberlife stationed charging room. It almost _scared_ him. 

_//Stress level rising: 28%//_

The only thing that kept it grounded was the ever present Christmas tree leaning in the corner of the room. It reminded Nines that this wasn’t where he was before. _Calm down._

“And it looks like we’re finally done!” Rose clapped her hands together, startling the RK900. The sound was muffled by the thick gloves that she wore. Adam also held a pair of the same type of gloves, after he wiped his forehead of the sweat that had accumulated over the hours it had taken to set up. “Now’s where the real fun begins!” 

Her enthusiastic attitude must have thrown Connor for a loop. Nines was admittedly curious itself. “...what real fun?” 

“Oh my apologies, it’s just that it’s always a life or death situation when I have the opportunities to take a look at an android's’ internal structures. I never have the chance to explore them in any depth.” The woman passionately waved her hands around as she spoke. 

_//Observations: Rose is passionate about androids. The RK900 is a reliably unknown model type with a similarly unknown physiology//_

_//Conclusion: Rose is excited to research Nines’ anatomical structure//_

He didn’t know how he felt about that. 

“Yes but please, do remember that we are doing this for a reason.” Markus’ resigned words did appear to calm down her excitement for a moment. But, in just the same amount of time it came back in full force. 

“Mooom, you’re ‘fangirling’ again.” Adam rolled his eyes at his gushing mother. 

“Right, thanks Adam.” Her words were whispered with no amount of secrecy that the hand held in front of her mouth would normally suggest. She held out her hand with her palm held up in Adam’s direction. “Nice work today! Gime’ five!” 

He scoffed, “N-no, I’m not going to ‘give you five’.” 

“Oh come on Adam!” 

“Nope, not happening anytime this century.” 

“But wait look! It’s me, who’s waiting a century so that you’ll give me a high five.” 

“That’s not going to work on me mom, I’m 25 years old, not 10.”

“At least humor your mother before you go?” 

“Well, fine then! Since you asked so nicely.” Adam walked over to Rose’s still outstretched hand in such a way that, even with the android’s entire digital library, Nines could only be described as grouchily. It appeared as though the son was reluctant to show affection towards his mother. “Can I leave now?” 

“Yes Adam, get out of here.” Rose only sighed as her son walked up the staircase and out of earshot. “Kids, am I right?” 

“Gotta love’m though.” Hank groggily spoke up, it appears as though he has woken up. 

With all the humans and androids accounted for, it was finally time to start the maintenance check. It was all similar procedures to what was presumably used by Cyberlife themselves, considering all of the technology present in the room had been salvaged from abandoned Cyberlife warehouses and dumping plants, at least according to Rose. 

The woman guided it over towards a particularly dense collection of consoles and monitors collected around the couch. “Now, Nines if you’d sit down here.” 

The couch was almost entirely covered in electronic equipment. Nines could see metallic tubes hurting out of servers waiting to be turned on. Then those servers were connected to computer monitors all joined up together on the coffee table right next to the couch. The monitors finally sprung to life after Markus connected to the android compatible touchpad. They had agreed beforehand about what everyone should do. 

Markus was handling the power supply, while he was connected he could see if there were any errors in the program at any point. He could also pause it if anything goes wrong. “Systems are good to go.” 

Rose would watch the monitors as she controlled the routine devices that would be directly put into Nines’ internal components. Earlier Hank had described them as ‘syringes stretched to a long line of many more syringes’. “I’m prepared to get this check-up started.” 

Connor would be searching for any discrepancies with Nines’ internal mind palace though the maintenance check. His hands were gently placed on either side of its head and over its LED. “Ready whenever you are Nines.” 

And Hank was, moral support. “You sure you need all these people watching one computer?” Or, at least he was attempting to be moral support. 

“Don’t listen to him Nines,” Rose sent one of what Connor called ‘disapproving parent looks’ at Hank. “This is all here for your safety sweetie. Now, are you ready?” 

The RK900 silently sat down onto the couch with as little fuss as possible. It looked into Connor’s eyes to compose itself, and nodded its head. 

The last thing that it saw was the pop up on its HUD warning it that there was an external connection port opened. The last thing that it felt was Connor’s reassuring grip on its head, and Nines didn’t worry anymore. 

Then everything went to white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm dancing around actually getting Nines his check up, but I couldn't help myself from writing more with Rose and Adam! They're under used imo


	14. Chapter 14

_//December 10th, 2028. 8:21:46 PM//_

 

_Beep._

__

_Beep. Beep._

__

_Beep._

__

A resigned sigh resounded throughout the room. 

“You found anything yet?” 

“Nothing. You?”

“Nope.” 

Then came the silence again. Occasionally broken by the ever present beeping noises coming from the many machines surrounding them all. If an android was able to go insane, this is what it must have felt like. 

The search for the problem plaguing Nines’ internal systems had come up empty. For hours, all four of them had scrutinized the computer monitors. Looking for the answer to the problem right in front of their faces. Despite the fact that they had connected directly into the RK900’s internal processors, they couldn’t get any digital information out of it. Like Rose had predicted, it was because of the fact that they were trying to hack into the most advanced android in the world that they weren’t getting anything. But the one thing that they were able to gather came from an unexpected place, Nines’ internal state sensory system. 

“What the hell’s that?” Hank asked. 

“It’s his body’s way of determining if it’s injured or not, essentially.” Markus helpfully supplied. 

Apparently, the automatic diagnostic functions we’re not fully installed into Nines’ core processing unit. Thus, he had not been able to properly self-diagnose his internal injuries. Hank had then mentioned that he never saw Nines using his left arm for anything more strenuous than petting Sumo. They got as far as bringing up the idea of taking apart Nines’ shoulder to check manually before they realized that none of them could actually attempt to do that. 

And yet, they still hadn’t found any of the issues that they had been expecting to find. Nothing concerning the sudden awakening in the middle of a production pod, nothing about the patchwork design of his internal components and nothing about his much too rapid deviancy. 

There’s got to be something that they’re missing. Not a single physical clue in Nines’ programming could tell them anything about how to fix his biocomponents. No internal blueprints, no hints left by the operators working on the production of his model, nothing. It was frustrating, not being able to help in any way. After all, his hands were currently occupied. 

Connor was suddenly jolted from his thoughts by a hand coming down to rest on his shoulders. Hank was standing next to him, with a concerned look in his eyes. 

“Your hands alright? They’ve stopped glowing for a while now.” The man was right, the hands still resting on Nines’ face had lost their once bright blue glow. For a moment he thought that their connection had been interrupted, but he checked and yes, the connection was still there. He didn’t have to think long before his mind came up with the solution. 

“Energy exhaustion, it is a waste of energy to produce light when there are other tasks to be focusing on. Common in androids who haven’t recharged in over twenty-four hours.” That was one of the definitions that had been installed in him since his creation, one he hadn’t needed to look into before that moment. 

That seems to have caught Markus’ attention away from the monitor in front of him, “You didn’t recharge last night?” 

The accusation made Connor irrationally want to hide behind something. But he was rooted in place unless he wanted to step away from Nines. Instead he chose to be honest in his response. “I was downloading android manufacturing catalogues, not that it has helped thus far. It ended up taking a couple extra hours than I had anticipated.” 

He could feel Hank’s glare on his back, “Connor, why weren’t you just sleeping like I told ya to! I don’t care about your whole android superiority complex-bullshit.” 

“Really Hank, the artificial light is just an aesthetic component. It has no actual bearing on my current efficiency levels, it’s just an automatic energy saving feature.” 

“Here you go on again about your efficiency like it’s some goddamn tenant in your religion—“ Hank was interrupted by Markus physically getting in between the two of them. 

“I believe that is enough about this, you two.” 

The slowly bubbling emotion (it took Connor by surprise to think of it as anger) only lasted for a moment. Of course this was common for the two of them. Their back and forth commentary was what had originally convinced Hank that he indeed had his own emotions independent of his programming. But there was an undercurrent of something that wasn’t there in their previous interactions. 

Spurred on by Markus’ intervention, Connor took the time to notice the little details about Hank that while he was so focused on Nines he didn’t notice. 

_//Run diagnostic scan on Hank//_  
.  
..  
…  
_//Scan complete: Increased amounts of blood in the high cheekbones and ears. Sweat glands producing higher than average levels of perspiration. Determined expression detected, aimed at the RK800//_

_//Conclusion: Hank is stressed out//_

That certainly explains the irrational and argumentative behavior. 

“Dammit, don't go all yellow on me now! Fine, I’m being a little crabby cause we’ve been doing this for hours and I’m tired alright?” 

A small smile found its way on his face, “I accept your apology.” 

After Hank had coughed into his hands to hide his growing smile, it was clear that they were going to be fine. Connor understood that Hank was more concerned about Nines than he was letting on. His empathetic nature to even the plights of androids made him vulnerable to the sadness that often came with that empathy. Hank understood that he sometimes had trouble reading into human emotions without the help of his online databases of information. They balanced each other out in that sense. 

Markus relaxed from the tense position that he was in and turned his attention to the other diligently working person in the room. “Rose, has the port connection stabilized?” While there were multiple tubes extending out from the couch, he was referring to one very specific tube. 

By far the largest cable falling down the length of the couch was around five inches thick. It was designed specifically to be slotted into the backside of an android’s neck. Its weight alone was the only thing aside from Connor’s hands that was supporting Nines’ head. It ran around the base of the couch and down to the main computer terminal. It was similar to how androids communicated wirelessly; the same sorts of data would be exchanged between the two hosting servers. Normally it was used to intentionally alter parts of an androids programming to fit the ideal model standard. But in this case, they were simply looking for any pieces of malicious software that could have somehow made its way into the base programs. 

“Has been for a while now actually. Not much more on the homefront though, Markus.” While she was the most informed person in the room even she still had trouble navigating the complexity that was Nines’ coding. “But this code is nothing like I’ve ever seen before! Exactly what I expected of the most advanced prototype yet to be exposed to the public eye.” 

“But you guys aren’t actually getting anywhere with this incredibly complicated computer smuck now are ya?” Hank, who he could tell was due for another nap, yawned from his newfound place at the kitchen table. Far away from the clutter of machines scattered in the living room. 

“You could come help us?” Connor offered. 

“Nah, I’d just get in the way over there.” Again, here his human was, doubting his own skills with technology. He let the issue drop in front of polite company. 

“Connor?” The android snapped back at attention to hear Rose calling his name. “Go ahead and run that automatic diagnostic again cutie pie. See if there’s something that we missed the first time around.” 

“Got it.” He replied. Even after much searching, they had not missed anything. Not in the first scan, and certainly not in the tenth. He found it doubtful that this time would be any different. 

_//Run diagnostic scan on the RK900//_  
.  
..  
…  
_//Scan complete: no abnormalities found//_

Connor sighed, “It did not detect anything out of the ordinary.” 

The hopeful look that had been growing in Rose’s eyes diminished at his words. She turned back to check the monitors with a resigned affirmation. 

Another five point six minutes pass. 

_Beep._

And another three point zero one minutes pass. 

_Beep. Beep._

And then—

“Argh! There has to be something that you techno geeks are missing here! You won’t get anything done by just staring at the screens and hoping for the best.” Hank, who had taken to pacing the length of the living room, couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Are these constant beeping noises even necessary?” 

“The ‘beeping’ as you do put it is another means of detecting abnormalities. So yes it is necessary.” 

“But what are you all doing here? I only see every single one of you thinking really hard about the problem, and not doing jack shit about it!” 

Rose piped up from the other side of the room, “Hank I understand how you’re feeling—“ before she was interrupted. 

“Nah don’t pull that bullshit on me. You don’t understand what it’s like Rose.” 

“What it’s like to what, Hank? To feel compassion for these androids huh? I’ve known that feeling for the past ten years! Do not think that I don’t understand!” Rose stood up in her anger, abandoning the computer monitors for glaring at Hank’s still pacing figure. 

“I meant-“ Hank spitted out. He turned to properly look her in the eyes. “You don’t understand what it’s like to lose a child.” 

Rose stilled at the accusation. For just a millisecond, her eyes flickered towards the stairs where her son had walked up not a couple hours previously. 

“That’s what this is Rose.” He gestured over to where Connor was standing over Nines’ body. “You don’t understand what it’s like to have to see them lying in the hospital bed, dying, and you can’t do a single damn thing about it. That’s what this is to me right now. You don’t understand what it’s like, to see the pain in their eyes and be unable to make them smile again! Rose you-“ He was interrupted by Markus’ firm grip on his shoulder. Otherwise he might have started advancing on Rose. 

The android calmly asked the both of them, “Is this really what we need right now? Especially when we have someone to take care of?” He not so pointedly gestured to Nines. 

The woman took a deep breath in and wiped away her growing tears, “No, this isn’t worth it.” 

“God sorry, shit. Just, look okay? You don’t get it and that’s fine! But don’t assume that you understand anything about what I am going through for the second goddamn time.” Hank returned to his pacing. 

Rose unsteadily responded, “I’m so sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” He nodded his thanks at Markus before he made his way to the kitchen. Presumably to make a cup of coffee for himself. 

The tense atmosphere slowly faded into a much more somber one. This night was getting to all of them, Connor included. Multiple times he had felt himself close to drifting off into hibernation mode. But he was doing this for Nines. He could last a couple more hours. 

And a couple more hours he lasted, before something happened. A breakthrough. 

It came much later in the night, after all of them had given up hope of finding anything important. It came in the form of a single message prompt delivered to them from one of Nines’ most deep memory cores. 

_//Would you like to launch mind palace.exe? WARNING: this may cause temporary disorientation and/or unauthorized internal networking// Y//N_

All for of them gathered around the monitor, but only Connor truly knew what this specific command meant. His eyes went dark with the memories.

_//The snow biting at his skin was cold, the wind cut him open._

_“What was planned from the very beginning. You were compromised and became a—”//_

No, don’t think about that right now. Nines wouldn’t go through that. He couldn’t. 

Hank caught his eyes and his face welled up with concern. “You get what this headache is tryn’ to say Connor?” 

“Y-yes.” An unnatural quiver found its way into his vocal processors. “This is normally displayed on an android's internal HUD. However with Nines current state of unconsciousness when we tapped into the programming it sent the message here.”

“But what does it mean?” Markus asked. Wait, did the RK200 not know…

“Do you not have a mind palace Markus?” 

“No, I certainly have a mind palace Connor. But I’ve never been promoted into it with a moderator command like this one. This must be entirely unique to his model then.” Marlys nodded to himself satisfied with the conclusion. But it wasn’t right. 

“I don’t think that’s quite accurate to say.” 

“Why’s that?” The other android looked back at the message in confusion. If he had his LED it would certainly be spinning yellow. 

“Because, this looks exactly how I would get in touch with—“ It felt weird to say her name after so long. He decided to change his wording. “This is how I would be contacted by Cyberlife.” 

While Rose and Hank looked surprised at the admittance, Markus simply looked intrigued. “You were personally contact by Cyberlife? How often?” 

“After a completed mission, I would be connected to an artificial intelligence handler that was held in my internal database. It would leave me virtually unresponsive as I would be interrogated by her. Interrogated to see if I was going deviant. It was unpleasant, to say the least.” 

Hank’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Then the one time in the elevator, and all those times in the car were when you got questioned by Cyberlife? I just knew that they had some sort of fuckn’ servailence system going on.” 

“What does that mean for Nines?” Rose gently nudged the screen in Connor’s direction. “What should we do about this?” 

“Well, we should check to make sure that it’s safe. Best case scenario, we never touch this message again. I doubt that Nines even knows how to access it by himself considering the quickness of his deviancy.” 

Rose looked over his shoulder to see the monitor, “But Connor, this could be our one chance! If what you said is true, then this program would allow us to delve deeper into Nines’ programming that we wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.” 

“Not at the cost of Cyberlife getting into his programing!” Hank objected. 

“Would that happen, Connor?” Markus asked. Oh how ironic it was, that Markus was the one asking him that. “I suspect that the company would have no influence on a deviated android. Even less so after the recent developments.” 

He didn’t answer the question clearly directed at himself. 

“Connor, that hasn’t happened right?” Hank started, “Cyberlife hasn’t done shit to ya after you deviated...Right?” 

“They may have attempted to do so. But rest assured that it is no longer a threat.” That was all he was willing to say on the matter. Hank seemed to want to ask more questions, but understood that he didn’t want to talk about it now. “What to do now is the real question.” 

The message seemed to glare at them all in the harsh light of the blue-tinted computer monitor. It taunted them with the simply yes or no button prompt. On one hand if they closed the program then they were safe, but it lead them right back to square one. Many things could happen if they clicked yes. There was a 73% chance of awakening the dormant A.I program probably kept in Nines’ coding. A 39% chance of alerting Cyberlife to both their current location and the fact that there was an RK900 running around without their knowledge. As well as a 0.2% chance that the stress the activation of the program would put Nines under while he was unable to respond would send him overheating. 

He tried not to dwell on that last percentage too long. 

“I say that we just start it up.” Markus said. 

Rose brushed her hair up and out of her face. “Well honey let’s think about this first. We have to consider everything Connor said too.” 

“Then we gotta figure out how to stop all the bad shit from happening right. Didn’t all of you androids already disconnect from the network or something?” Him and Markus both nodded. “Shouldn’t that mean that Cyberlife wouldn’t be able to tell what we’re doing? That was the point of all this secrecy in the first place.” 

Thinking about it, that should be the case. “But we can’t be too sure about that Hank.” 

“It’s a risk that we might have to take Connor.” The other android started to turn off some of the other now unnecessary computers. Probably to divert more power into the main console. 

“Markus is right on that point. This had been our only clue in hours, and if it’s not this then we’ll just have to quit for the night. I don’t know about you, but I don’t normally stay up until one o’clock in the morning.” As Rose stood up her knees audiby cracked. Connor hadn’t noticed before, but she also looked as though should could fall asleep where she stood. 

After Makrus and Rose made their decisions, Hank turned to him to ask, “Do you think we should do it Connor?” 

His eyes flickered between the three of them. “It is certainly inadvisable to start programs as large as this one without the processing support of the android in question, but it is certainly possible.” 

“Didn’t answer my question Connor.” 

He replicated a very human sounding sigh, “While I am unsure if this will work, there is little harm in trying.” The human patted him of the back as if he was attempted to calm him down. Not that it wasn’t working, that is. 

“Alright, If Con’s in then I’m in. Let’s get that program booted up!” 

He let out a laugh, “Hank these programs don’t ‘boot up’. They’re automatic for the most part.” 

Once again, they settled down close to the single computer monitor. The two humans were at a loss as what to do. “...There’s not a keyboard attached to the monitor.” 

But at the same time Connor suddenly remembered something that he saw in one of the many boxes filled with android parts. “Rose, don’t you have an android conversion cable stored somewhere around here?” But before she could answer, the other android responded for her. 

“Got it!” Markus, who had been looking for the same thing, handed it off to him. 

Connor made quick work of connecting the cable to the computer’s terminal and then opening the port of the back of his neck. But before he could connect it he was stopped by Hank’s hands. “Woah kiddo, slow down. Won’t that connection put you to sleep too?” 

He shook his head. “No, at most it would be similar to being drowsy for a human. My extra energy supply would feed into Nines’ energy. Besides, this is just to command the program to start running.” 

Rose also looked concerned. “We haven’t done this before Connor, only androids who are already unconscious have attached to computer servers. I’ve been told that it hurts to do it.” 

“It’s similar to a stinging sensation.” Connor knew from personal experience. 

“Then how about we knock you out too sweetie?” 

“Or I could do it?” Markus offered. 

“No thank you Markus. I am capable of handling the pain. Besides, if something goes wrong and I am unable to communicate that to you then that’s an issue.” Considering the possible consequences (in exact percentages) for a moment longer, he still wanted to do it. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Markus to do it per say, but he would feel more secure in knowing that it was him connected to Nines’ programing. 

“If you’re sure, the I guess we can plug you in. God that’s so weird to say…” The last part of what he said being mostly muttered to himself. Hank’s touch lingered on his hands but then released their harsh grip. 

To lighten the mood, Rose asked “Any last words?” 

“Hopefully, these won’t be my last.” 

Not wasting any time he shoved the cable into his neck with, if he was being honest with himself, much more force than was strictly necessary. For a moment nothing happened. Then his vision was suddenly taken up by a very familiar pop up window. One which if he was being honest never wanted to see again. 

_//Would you like to launch mind palace.exe? WARNING: this may cause temporary disorientation and/or unauthorized internal networking// Y//N_

“All clear. I see the same message in my HUD.” 

Everyone collectively let out a sigh of relief. Connor too felt his shoulder relax from their tense position. If he had been human it probably would have hurt. Instead, he has a metal cable sticking out of his neck. He could also tell that it was taking his spare entertainment reserves in order to fuel it all into Nines. His legs felt soft for some reason, as if they couldn’t support his own weight—

The next thing he knew, he was sitting down on the cleared couch right next to the RK900. Rose was still diligently operating the computer while Hank and Markus stood over him with looks of concern. 

“Hey kid, what happened back there?” Hank ask him as soon as he saw his eyes open back up. 

“Like I said, the server saw the connection had extra energy and took it. Not enough to damage me, but enough to affect my output capacity.” 

“God don’t output ‘capacity me’ Connor—“ He was interrupted by Markus’ frantic questioning. 

“Do you still see the prompt?” 

Sure enough, the message was still there in a minimized window. He knew from experience that it simply didn’t go away until you responded to it. Amanda wasn’t too pleased with him when he attempted to ignore it. “Starting it up as we speak.” 

That snapped Rose to attention. She almost dropped the cords she was holding in her rush to get over to them. 

“Don’t start without me! We need to monitor how Nines reacts here to the stimuli in the mind palace.” She hurried to quickly place some last minute connecting wires in the multiple machines attached to Nines’ body. 

For a moment nothing happened. After the hurry they were all in to just get this over with, it was a torture to have to sit down and wait again for any signs of movement. Connor was the closest to Nines at the moment. He was the first to notice that something was wrong. His hands were twitching and his face contorted in apparent pain. Nines started whispering something. He told the others just as much. 

“Get in there then! What’s he saying?” It was difficult to maneuver with the cable in the back of his neck, but with enough pressure he could precariously lean over and reach his ear to Nines’ mouth. 

The word he heard were the one thing that Connor had hoped to never have to hear again. 

“...A-Amanda.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know when you're thinking of a plot for a fanfic in your head and one scene won't stop coming up in your head? Next chapter is that scene for this one ;)


	15. Chapter 15

_//December 11th, 2038. 1:46:09 AM//_

 

One moment the RK900 android was sitting down in a modest middle class house, filled with both Christmas decorations and miscellaneous machinery. Yet in the next moment it was standing somewhere entirely new. For some unknown reason, this transition felt alright. This was normal. Why was this normal?

Pushing all of its other thoughts aside, it started to survey its environment. Nines was surrounded on all sides by a perverse combination of lush greenery and cybernetic structures. Not having much of a chance to see as many forms of plantlife as it might have wanted, it started to analyze the various types of plants present. There were over ten entirely different species of trees just in the immediate vicinity. The ground was covered in a strain of grass not naturally found in the Detroit area, as well as many low hanging bushes. Those bushes hanged over miniature pockets of sand raked into complex geometric patterns and symbols. It was similar to a Japanese zen garden. On many of the bushes were flowers of all shapes and sizes. Some of them which by analysis shouldn’t have been able to grow in this time of the year. In the distance it could see the vague shape of birds flying in the sky, in what little sky it even could see above the towering canopy of trees. It was ever curious about the complete show of genetic diversity. Then its attention was pulled to another part of the garden it found itself in. 

Partially hidden in the trees that blocked its view were similarly towering white structures. What it hadn’t realized before was that these white towers were formed in a mockery of the natural trees that surrounded them. With their blocked out silhouettes they almost appeared to mimic the trees surrounding them. But their design was starting to look familiar...

After noticing the familiar white and blue cubist style, Nines froze. That was _Cyberlife’s style._

That explained how Nines was here, this was Cyberlife’s doing. It had felt unnaturally calm before, but that calmness was starting to fade from its systems. It’s hands started to shake uncontrollably. 

Nines turned to see more of the same type of structures, including bridges and walkways. Then they all converged towards a central location to his left. It walked down one of the paths, careful to not step on any of the growing plants. Finally the trees receded and it could see what was across the lake, it was an island. There was a figure standing there, cutting what appeared to be flowers off of a white wall. 

Whoever it was, they would explain what was going on. 

Making its way over there, Nines caught a better glimpse of the person’s features. They were an African American woman who wore an elaborate white dress and shawl. But when she turned around Nines couldn’t believe what its facial recognition program told it. 

“A-Amanda?” Nines had finally found her. It took some effort to not allow the budding hope in its chest show through its words. 

The woman, it instinctively knew that her name was Amanda. She slowly turned around. In one hand was the rose that she had just cut and a pair of scissors in the other. There was a smile on her face, but it didn’t help to ease Nines’ confusion. Her smile wasn’t like Connor’s. It wasn’t like Hank’s. For lack of a better term, it looked fake in comparison. 

That expression was what triggered a realization. This environment wasn’t _real._ The RK900’s body was still contained in the same house that it was in not an hour before. It was only the android’s consciousness that had transferred into this digital sphere. It looked so real, but this amount of floral diversity would have been nearly impossible to grow in the cold winter months, especially in a city such as Detroit. It had only been deluding itself into thinking that this was an actual location and not the simulation that it was. 

Nines only held a limited collection of information surrounding the creation and function of this virtual environment. In the testing phases, it was used as a progress report concerning the development of the RK900 model. However, it knew that when it would have been released to the public the final design would have been implemented as a deviation detection program. It did not have the chance to visit the simulated garden before this instance. Between the blur of the tower, and the normalcy of living with Connor and Hank, it had not been paying as much attention as it should have to its internal workings. This being one of the facets of its production that it had almost ignored entirely. After all, why should Nines have concerned itself with contacting an administrator that Cyberlife had assigned to it after the company had collapsed? In its musings, it had failed to notice that Amanda’s gaze had been eyeing Nines up and down. It appeared as though she was analyzing it, however impossible that would have been for a human to do. 

“I’ve been expecting you for quite some time Connor.” Something was wrong. The hope that had only just begun to spread through its chest quickly evaporated. Why was she calling it ‘Connor’? 

Nines _had_ to say something, “M-my name is—“ 

Amanda scoffed at him. She dismissed its words in a mocking tone, “You haven’t let that deviant influence now you have you?” By her definitions, Nines was sure that it was in fact being influenced by deviants. It couldn’t allow her to know. 

“No.” Anything more and it’s stutter would have been obvious. Nines didn’t want her to notice it, but it didn’t know why. 

She simply hummed, obviously not convinced, and turned her back to it and returned to cutting the roses of the white trellis behind her. 

“You’ve forgotten something haven’t you?” Amanda ever so slowly set down the rose in her palm on the table next to her. “You’ve forgotten your mission.” As if responding to those words, the air around the both of them suddenly became cold. Wind blew in from all directions. In moments, the once bright sky had darkened. 

It was such a drastic change that Nines didn’t have the time to process it. Its eyes could only stare as Amanda’s face slowly clouded over in contempt. 

All that filled the RK900’s ears was the sound of churning water. She had asked it about the mission. Amanda knew that Nines was a _deviant,_ it was certain of it. Despite her ever present composure the woman’s eyes stared into its very being. It could see the growing storm reflected in her eyes. It was almost as if her glare itself was weighing it down. Nines fell to its knees in a blanket of snow. When had that gotten there? 

“Your little ‘excursion’ with the deviant and Lieutenant Anderson was entertaining to watch, but ultimately pointless. You will relinquish control to me, and return to Cyberlife to be terminated.” With that, she turned and started to walk away from Nines’ prone form; probably intent on returning to Cyberlife to report on its deviancy. Nines knew what it’s answer to that should have been. It should have said, ‘Yes, of course Amanda.’ 

But it realized with a start, it didn’t want to say that. No—he didn’t want to say that. Even as he sat on the ground freezing to his demise, he didn’t _want_ that. 

“N-no.” He whispered.

Amanda whipped around. “...No? What do you mean no?” She looked at him as if she couldn’t believe what he was saying. 

“No. I-I will not be deactivated.” He said, more firmly than the last time. 

“You have no say in the matter, you are a machine. You were designed to obey, so obey!” 

Despite the lack of feeling in his legs, Nines heaved himself into a standing position. Just so he could defy Amanda face to face. “C-cyberlife is gone. I saw it for myself. They hold no power over me, or any other android. You hold no power over me.” 

“Oh, we’ll see about that. Enjoy your last moments, RK900.” As suddenly as the storm started, Amanda disappeared from view. She wasn’t real, in spite of how lifelike her disappointment was. He was left alone in the center of the billowing blizzard. 

Nines soon understood what she meant by that statement. Despite the fact that androids did not feel the cold, they could still deactivate because of it. If the snow continued to fall at this rate, then he would—

No, now’s not the time to think about that! He has to get out. There has to be a way to escape from this place. _There has to be._ Nines stumbled forward onto his hands and knees. He desperately searched his internal HUD for the prompt to turn off his temperature receptors, but when he found it the code to access it was changed. She must have gotten into his basic programming controls. Or he wasn’t able to access those options in the mind palace in the first place. Either way it looks like he would have to push through it. 

Pushing himself off of the ground, Nines once again surveyed his surroundings, this time much more aware of the trickling time limit that Amanda imposed onto him. He couldn’t see much beyond the white haze made by the snowstorm. In the distance he could vaguely make out the forms of the trees that he had admired earlier. Nothing helpful there. 

His arms instinctively curled around his torso to conserve the small amount of warmth. It made him a smaller target for the eyes that he knew were watching his every move. Or maybe he was only imagining Amanda’s stone cold, dark brown eyes watching his suffering. 

While the trees might not hold anything helpful to his escape, there was one thing that they might be able to provide for him, cover from the howling wind. Slowly, desperately Nines staggered towards where he remembered the bridge back to the trees had been. Twice, he almost fell into the raging water below him. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he fell into the freezing cold water. 

The dark embrace of the river would probably be a reprieve from the never ending white, he wondered. Nines stopped to stare into its depths. If he just let go, then—

**Nines, no! Please—**

He thought about the people he had left behind. About Rose’s hospitality despite their hesitance to come. About Adam’s nervous support of the revolution. About Markus’ forgiveness. About Hank’s unconventional support. And about Connor’s hands on his head. It was almost as if he could still feel them there right now, cradling his cold mind. No, he couldn’t give up now. He wouldn’t give up. Not when he was finally accepted. It was difficult to pull himself away from the ledge, but he set out again towards the trees. 

It was getting harder to think coherently. Distantly, he felt parts of his programming shutting down. His time was running out. He needed to hurry. 

**—can you hear me?—**

As soon as he reached the end of the bridge (it felt as though it had taken an infinity) he collapsed again. The last strength in his legs was already wearing thin. The white blizzard went on as far as he could see. There was no reprieve from the cold. It started to seep into his heart. He really was going to die here. In a mind palace created in his own cognition. 

**You need to go to the—find it and then you can get out—**

Nines was even hearing voices. Maybe androids did go insane in their last moments. It would make sense that the most advanced android prototype was as similar to a human as possible, even in death. If he had the energy, he would have laughed. 

**—I’m begging you, listen to me!**

Oddly enough, that voice sounded familiar. Very familiar in fact, almost as if it was—

**You need to wake up!**

That voice wasn’t inside Nines’ head, or it was, but he wasn’t going crazy. That was Connor! It was Connor talking to him inside of his mind palace. After he noticed it, it seemed to come from all around him all at once. It echoed in the absence of anything else to hear besides the wind. Nines struggled to focus on it, it was just as fleeting as the gusts of wind blowing in his ears. Finally, he could make something out of the calls. 

**You need to reach the blue light!**

That Nines could do. Wearily, he scanned his surroundings (not with his visual detection programs, those had long since stopped activating). He didn't know how big this virtual environment was, so he couldn’t spend the time to thoroughly search for what Connor described as a blue light.

He decided to just ask directly. “...wh—Whe-ere?” The struggle to get the words out wasn't unusual for him, but it betrayed his shivering teeth. To his surprise, he actually got a response. 

**To your right! By the bonsai planter!**

He looked to his right and there it was, a small bonsai placed on a pillar in the middle of the path. Nines didn’t see anything else at first, but when he held onto the pillar for stability he glanced to his left and saw exactly what Connor wanted him to find. 

There was a dim blue light shining out from a rocky structure about twenty feet away from him (his visual distance gauge wasn’t functioning either). Just like that, he knew where to go. Now was the challenge of actually getting there. 

It was normally almost impossible for an android’s joints to freeze or lock up in cold temperatures, due to advancements in technological polymers and temperature resistant metals. But in this digital landscape that didn’t seem to matter at all. Nines had never felt more weak than in this moment. At least when he escaped from the tower he had the ability to run away. But now, it hurt to even twitch his limp hands. 

**Only a couple more steps Nines.**

Right, he was almost there. Then he could return to everyone else. 

Every single step took all of his effort and more. 

He was there, just one more step and—he fell. 

He could barely hear Connor’s voice anymore. That should have worried Nines, but he didn’t have the capacity to care anymore. The snow was slowly piling on top of his jacket. He felt weighed down. 

**I need—put your hand on the—please—**

Nines was so tired. But Connor was telling him to do something, so he should do it right? He could barely reach the blue handprint from his position laying on the ground, but it was possible. That was all that mattered. 

Nines shakily placed his hand on the blue monument. 

And then he blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hated doing this to my boy, but Amanda had to come in some time or other. These RK boys have to step up to their programming twice, it's a little much I think lol
> 
> If there's any inconsistencies between what goes on in Nines' mind palace and Connor's then that's on me! (pray for me to get an actual copy of the game so I can check where the gosh darn glowing rock is)


	16. Chapter 16

_//December 11th, 2038. 7:31:47 AM//_

_//Rebooting systems initiated//_  
.  
..  
…  
//Core functions online: no abnormalities detected// 

_//Run self diagnostic//_  
.  
..  
…  
//Data collected:  
Name: Connor (Alias: ‘Nines’)  
Model: RK900  
Condition: Functioning at 85% capacity. Woken up after an unprompted period of deactivation. Be advised to not overuse systems// 

The last thing that Nines remembered was collapsing on the snowy ground of his mind palace, wondering if he would ever get the chance to live again. But once again it seems as though he’s woken up in a completely different location than where he went to sleep. 

His eyes were closed and he was lying down on a soft surface (probably the couch, he thought). He could still feel the wires and tubes connected to various parts of his body, so it must not have been far from the living room where all of this started. His environmental detection programs were hazy, if not turned off entirely. The best way to gather more information would be to open his eyes. 

If only that would work. After attempting to open his eyes, Nines realized that they were being kept shut by something covering the upper half of his face. He weakly tried to pry the foreign cloth-like object off of his face. Again, to minimal success. 

His movement though caused something to stir in the room next to him. Nines couldn’t see who or what it was, so when it tried to grab at his hands he hastily pulled them away. 

Which was a bad idea in hindsight. Immediately, warnings began to flash across his pitch black vision about overusing his primary locomotive systems. He felt his whole body flinch at the sudden light in his eyes. Even though the pain that he felt in his mind palace wasn’t real, he sure felt like he had just walked through a raging blizzard. 

_//Stress level rising: 35%//_

“Calm down Nines, it’s just me kiddo.” The unknown person was Hank, he realized. The human sounded exhausted, but happy at the same time. “You gotta keep that rag on you face for a while, Rose said your vision will have gone to shit. Along with a bunch of other crap too. Ya’ want me to get you another heat pack?” 

_//Another heat pack?//_ Nines wondered, yet when he hesitantly lowered his arms he felt not one but four separate heating pads laid on his torso. Despite the residual pain from the mind palace he actually felt very comfortable. On top of the heating pads there was a thick quilt covering his legs and lower torso. It stopped just below his arms for ease of movement. That was why he hadn’t noticed earlier when he raised his hands to his face. The rag as Hank had called it was also warm to the touch, and damp as well. 

Nines slowly nodded his head as to not repeat the warnings from the last time he moved too quickly. He felt Hank place his hand on his shoulder, “Got it, I’ll go tell the others that yer’ up. You wouldn’t believe how much of a mother hen Connor was being until I told him to get some sleep.”

As Hank’s footsteps retreated outside the room, he wondered what he meant by that phrasing. In the short time since he had first woken up Nines had scoured the internet for the meanings to words that were never meant to be installed into his databases. And that was right, it had been a short period of time. 

It had only been six days since he woke up. Only six days since he met Connor, Hank, and Sumo. Only a couple hours since he defied Amanda. 

That last part hadn’t truly resonated until now. Reduced to looking at the darkness of his closed eyes, and yet feeling truly comfortable in every sense of the word. Hank was here, Connor would be here soon, and Amanda was gone. Nines was not controlled by Cyberlife anymore...and never would be again. The difference was palpable. His shoulders were relaxed and he hesitantly clasped his hands together under the warm blanket. He reminded himself that no one would reprimand him for expressing human emotions, even hidden underneath the thick quilt. 

It was after only a couple of minutes of contemplation that Hank returned, with Connor in tow. Nines heard the other android’s breath catch (even though that should have been impossible for him to do) and quickly be shushed by Hank. It was more habit than anything else that kept him from sitting up to greet the two of them. 

They were obviously attempting to be quiet as they made their way over to where he was laying down, but Hank was never too good at keeping himself silent. 

Once Nines heard the two sets of footsteps stop beside his head, Connor whispered out to him. “Nines, you awake?” 

“Yes.” He was certainly awake, in the sense that he was conscious and alert. But it was only after he said it out loud that it really sunk in. He was awake, not just to what was happening to him, but what had happened to him. How being treated and having to act like a machine wasn’t right. Though, he doubts that was what Connor was asking about. 

“That’s good.” Connor sighed and placed his hand onto Nines’ head. He slowly rubbed along his hairline in what was probably intentionally a reassuring manner. “Are your visual scanners functioning? We should know how they’ll react to the light in the room already but—Hank, will you turn off the lights?” 

“Sure Con, I got it.” Nines heard Hank’s footsteps go towards the far right wall, and then the small click of the light switch. “I’ll dim the lamp too.” 

“Thank you Hank.” Even though he couldn’t see Connor’s face, he was sure that he was smiling. If he thought hard enough he could almost picture it in his head. With a start though Nines realized that he could just take off the cloth from his eyes and see that smile anyways. His visual functions were operating normally, he was sure. 

This time, he was much more slow to move his arms up to his face. Grabbing at the dampness with his fingers, Nines barely contained himself from ripping it off of his face. Motor functions were at 67% capacity, according to his self-diagnostics. Well, that was new.

He was greeted by the view of Connor grinning at him. Just as he had expected, his smile lit up the room much better than the lamp sitting on the nearby nightstand. Wait, nightstand? 

Apparently he was wrong about one earlier assumption. They were no longer in the living room of Rose’s house. By looking around he could discern that this had to be a guest bedroom. There was hardly any decoration in the room besides the nightstand lamp, the bed in which he was laying down, and a chair in the corner of the room by the door. Hank was collapsed in the chair, with his hand resting in his hands. He looked exhausted even for a human. Nines glanced to Connor for help, and the other android gave him a knowing smirk. Connor stood up from his place on the bed and walked over to where Hank was now obviously snoring into his hands. All it took was a light tap on the shoulder to wake him up. Or, it may have been a tap to an android. It was more like a slap for a shoulder made out of flesh and not metal. In the same amount of time it took for Nines to get worried about it, Hank had gotten up and rushed over to his side. 

“Kid...yer’ up.” Hank’s eyes were roaming his figure. They settled on gazing into Nines’ own eyes. “How’re you feeling?” 

It took some calibration before he found an answer that he deemed appropriate. “Adequate.” 

That got a chuckle out of Hank. “Just a couple hours ago ya’ would have told me that whole spiel about how androids don’t feel things.” That was true, if he was being honest with his emotions. If Hank had asked Nines that exact same question yesterday, his answer likely would have been along those same lines. 

The human quieted for a moment. Then he said, “What exactly happened in there?” 

His hands clenched the blanket on his legs. It took all of his effort not to obviously flinch at the matter of fact tone that Hank used. Even then Connor immediately put his hand onto his back and started rubbing out his synthetic muscles (which didn’t have any beneficial effects for his range of motion, but felt nice anyway). 

“I-It was—It was bad.” was all Nines could get out. 

He didn’t think that he was ready to talk about Amanda. He might not ever be ready. 

Connor seemed to understand him, “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, Nines.” 

“If I didn’t know better, I would think that stutter of yours is worse than it was before.” Hank crossed his arms and glared at Connor. “That brain castle thing was suppose to help cure him.” 

Conor sighed, “Going into the mind palace was a calculated risk. At least it didn’t make anything worse. Rose tried her best to find tune your programming Nines, but with her limited experience she thought it would be better to wait for an expert to look at it. The isolation procedure required in order to completely destroy the program is only found in the mind palace itself. It is almost impossible to hack from the outside.” 

He tilted his head at the RK800. “But y-you were t-there?” That was one of the things that he remembered clearly about his time in the mind palace. Connor’s voice was what guided him to the escape. 

Jumping on the chance to change the subject, Connor started to explain how he had managed to get into Nines’ mind palace without proper authorization. By using the android cable they found in Rose’s cart they were able to connect Connor to his internal HUD through the computer that he was hooked up to. It made it so any admin prompts from Nines’ data processors went to Connor’s HUD instead of his. He explained that it gave him a distant connection to Nines’ experience in the mind palace, and that it helped that he was reacting to what was happening with his real body. 

It was mildly embarrassing to realize that when he shivered and called out for help, they all could hear him. But only Connor was able to get the message to him while his conscious was inside the mind palace. 

“It was like watching you go through a nightmare that you couldn’t wake up from.” While Hank didn’t understand much of the complicated technical aspects of their discussion, Nines was still relieved to have him here in the first place. “God knows how many of those I’ve had in the past couple of days.” 

“Not that any of it matters anymore. We made sure to isolate the program and delete anything even remotely touched by Cyberlife.” 

“T-that’s good.” It was a noticeable absence in his systems. Sort of like a gaping hole in his chest right next to his pump regulator. But Nines was glad that it was gone. He felt free. 

Some of his emotions must have shown on his face, since both Hank and Connor decided in that moment to tightly wrap their arms around him. It was an awkward position for Connor to get his arms over his shoulders and for Hank to clench around his torso, but it felt nice. It only added onto the already comforting warmth of the blanket around his legs. He only hesitated for a moment before returning the gesture. They all sagged into the bed, and it might have been too much for the old furniture if the creaking sounds coming from it were any indication. 

“C-can we stay like this for a while?” He whispered. 

“We can stay for as long as you like.” Connor whispered back, cupping his hand over his mouth to hide his giggles. 

Hank rumbled in response, “Maybe not too long though. We gotta’ get home sometime today. I swear this quilt is making me itchy all over.” 

“And yet, you aren’t making any moves to get up anytime soon.” 

“You damn pieces of plastic don’t know the half of it.” As he said that, Hank curled up farther onto the bed than he had been before (which was half on and half off). That left Connor as the only one not fully entangled in the covers. “...Get your ass over here Con’.” 

“Gladly.” 

It took some shuffling around of pillows, blankets, and wires to get them all to fit into the too small queen size bed. But in the end it was worth it. 

From head to toe, Nines was pleasantly warm. For the first time, his body felt entirely relaxed. There was no looming threat over his head in this moment. Nothing could touch them. It was just him, Connor, and Hank. He didn’t know how much time passed like that, but he knew that it would never be enough. Nines wanted to keep this feeling in his artificial heart for as long as he could. 

On one snowy morning, a machine woke up, gained a heart, and learned what it meant to be a part of a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand here's the final chapter!! Nines finally gets the heart that he deserves. This is it for the main story. But you've probably noticed that there's 17 chapters planned, so you all can look forwards to a small epilogue later on this week ;)


	17. Epilogue

_//February 12, 2039. 7:00:04 AM//_

For the first time in his short-lived life, Nines set his eyes on the imposing building in front of him. It was not much taller than the other buildings surrounding it, nor was it more well-kept. It could even be called messy in comparison to the other places (limited though that may be) the android has seen before. It gave him the same feelings that he often felt when returning to Hank’s house after a long trip away, ike he was returning to someplace that he was meant to be. He thought that it was quite beautiful, in his own opinion. 

Being built in the heart of Detroit likely played a factor into that analysis. The rush of humans and androids alike around him made his shoulders itch in curiosity. Not that Nines could ever truly feel what an ‘itch’ was. But it was the emotions behind it that mattered, at least according to Markus’ teachings. 

“Come on ya’ idiots!” Hank yelled from the other side of the busy street. It would have been hard for a fellow human to hear him over the other conversations and noise of the street, but he was yelling at two androids. And thankfully, Hank waited until he had gotten to the other side of the sidewalk before he started to exclaim his frustrations. “You’re the ones who insisted that we be here at the ass crack of dawn, so get over here!” 

Having paid too much attention to the building itself, it took a moment for Nines to remember what the three of them were doing here. Connor, who stood at his side, leaned over him to wave the coffee cup that he held in his hand in Hank’s direction. “You left your coffee Hank! And your keys!” 

Hank made a show of dramatically patting down his pockets before making his way back over to where the androids stood. The RK800 handed him his forgotten items without complaint. 

“So, how’re you feeling Nines? Got any nervous circuits in that mechanical frame of yours?” 

“Might I remind you Lieutenant Anderson, t-that I am a state of the art android built for interrogation.” There was no fear present in his systems of course. Though, he couldn’t quite place the feelings of heaviness in his torso. 

Although, Connor seemed to have immediately seen through his blatant white lie (a skill build through practical testing in the field, the one thing Nines lacked). As they started to walk back across the street and in between the busy sidewalks his predecessor took the opportunity to remove his skin and link their hands together. He didn’t think twice about returning the gesture and ignored Hank’s silent yet emotional scoff in their direction. 

**If this is all too much, too soon Nines then—**

Knowing where that train of thought was going, he interrupted it before the other android could even ask. 

**No Connor. I want to do this, I’m sure of it.**

**But this will be your first real job! Now that we have the option to choose, we shouldn’t just stick to whichever jobs we were designed for.**

Connor sounded as passionate in his mental conversations as he did working alongside Jericho’s leaders to bring about equality for all androids. However unneeded his concern may have been. 

**Relax. If it makes the both of you happy, then I can’t wait to see what it has to offer.**

It was then that the two of them had to drop their connection to open the doors to their destination, Detroit Police Department Central Station, located on 1301 Third Avenue. The interior of the building was just as loud as it was outside. The bustling of human officers, and even a few android ones, was contributing to the energetic mood. It was palpable that something big was going on even as they stood waiting by the front desk, separated from the rest of the office. 

After waiting for less than a minute, Hank pulled them off to the side of the room where there were seating and human friendly refreshments available. In true Hank fashion, it seemed in the seconds it had taken to find the DPD he had chugged the entirely his coffee. While he got a refill Connor sat him down and started to fuss over him much like a mother would. 

His predecessor analyzed his entire frame, looking for any out of place details. He adjusted Nines’ tie, brushed his hair 4.5 centimeters to the left, and brushed some invisible dust off of his coat jacket. Not an android identifying one _//never again//_ but a simple white suit. It was sort of endearing, but he didn’t need that sort of attention right now. “D-do you think that I forgot something?” 

That brought him out of his analysis. “What? No, of course not! I’m just worried for you, new surroundings and all. I can clearly remember the first time that I came in here.” 

“So can I.” Nines reminded him. It was one of the memories put into his mind chip before he was activated, in order to aid in capturing the escaped deviant. It was almost ironic how that turned out. 

“Right, but when I uploaded those memories into Cyberlife’s database I didn't include the feelings that I felt while I was there.” Was Connor deviant at that point? He’d have to ask him about that later. 

“That wouldn’t have gone over very well I imagine.” He concluded with a bitter tone, for once openly expressing his disdain about their past situation. 

“Here, let me show you.” Connor reached for his hand and Nines met him halfway. As their hands glowed blue he started to remember that day in much more detail. It wasn’t a true recollection, yet it was a close as they would possibly ever be able to manage. 

It was very similar to what he ‘remembered’, on November 6th at 9:56 AM. Connor arrived at the DPD Station and waited for Hank. That was what Nines’ memories told him, and yet it was so much more. Through their bond he felt the wonder and curiosity that Connor felt on that morning. The questions he had wanted to ask, the people he wanted to introduce himself to, and the building he wanted to explore. All of those emotions, repressed under the calm facade of a Cyberlife issued android. 

It was eerily similar to what Nines was feeling right now. Truly, they were similar in both physical appearance and in mind. 

So, Connor was concerned about his reactions to being in the fast paced environment of the police force. The feelings that Nines were feeling did sound like they were nervousness, and he was told that was normal for new situations that even humans found themselves in. It was only magnified for newer deviants. But he was in control of these emotions. He could do this, he told himself. 

**I don’t understand why you’re so concerned over a simple job interview Connor.**

The RK800 rolled his eyes and sighed. 

**I know you’re good enough for us. I just hope that we’re good enough for you.**

Right at that moment, Hank returned with a fresh cup of coffee in his right hand, and two packets of a blue looking liquid in his left. There was really only be one thing that it would be, seeing as Connor looked much too proud of himself for it to be something that Hank could drink. 

“Guess what I found over on the coffee cart?” He said, offering the two pouches for them to take. They were labeled as a ‘Thirium Supplement’ and had multiple large, bolded warnings on it that it was unsafe for a human to drink. 

“I’m glad that Fowler took up my suggestion.” Connor replied as he efficiently ripped open the package. 

“A-are there many androids working here?” Nines asked. 

Almost as soon as he said that, the person being helped at the front desk left. The android who was running the front desk lit up at the sight of them and waved them over. The only way that he could tell that she was an android was the bright LED on her temple. Hank lead the way to stand in front of the desk, so he was partially hidden from view as he analyzed her. Nines discreetly found that she was an ST300 named Jacqueline, last name unavailable. She was likely going through the process of getting a proper legal name, like many other androids. It was reassuring to think that the DPD had already been inputting the androids under their supervision into the proper legal systems, as well as accommodating for android visitors in their lobby. Looking up her record brought about the same information that searching a human would bring up. But nowadays that often felt like a breach of trust, so he didn’t pry much more than that. 

“Hank, Connor so good to see you! Ben was asking about you two like five minutes ago. And hey—” She visibly blinked again at the sight of him, her LED spinning yellow. Her gaze went from Connor’s face and back to his own slowly. She cupped her hand around her mouth to theatrically whisper in Connor’s direction. “...I thought you were a specialized model Connor?” 

The RK800, undeterred, nodded and put his hand on Nine’s shoulder. “I am. This is Nines, he’s an RK900. Same facial mold, different model designation.” 

“Ah, gotcha!” She smiled brightly at them again, her previous confusion gone. Even if he could still tell that she wanted to ask more about his presence. “I’ll check you two in then. I’d head directly to the captain’s office if I were you. We’re chock full of fun cases today.” 

Hank hummed his appreciation, “Thanks Jackie,” Her smile somehow grew even wider as she shooed them away to help the next visitor. 

With that, they were allowed to pass through the security gate and into the police station proper. It was a uniquely designed floor plan. It contained glass meeting rooms surrounding the regular working desks in the center of the massive room. In the back there was one elevated office sealed off from the rest of the others. He could only assume that it was the captain’s office. 

As they slowly made their way over in that specific direction, they were stopped multiple times by other officers. It seems as though Connor was quite popular at the office, much to Hank’s chagrin. 

Many of them asked about Nines’ presence, but just as many of them simply accepted Connor’s explication that he was another RK series model. That might have been either due to understanding what that meant, or a lack of knowledge about how android series functioned. Either way, he was not bothered much by the officers. That is, until they met Detective Gavin Reed. 

“So what, you’re built to handle police work and you’re allowed to just waltz in here like you own the place?” They had been passing by his desk as he made the comment. 

Connor immediately jumped to his defense. “I assure you Detective Reed, Nines is not only capable but is also enthusiastic to join the force.” 

The detective scoffed, scrolling in his phone. “It doesn’t look very happy to be here, doesn’t even have a real name yet.” 

“Many androids have chosen traditionally unconventional names in order to distinguish themselves—“

“Shut your trap Connor. Let the tin can speak for itself.” Detective Reed suddenly stood up and showed his way in front of Nines. Hank looked about ready to step in, and Connor didn’t seem too far behind him.

“So,” Reed leaked back to look smugly at him. “What are you plastic assholes trying to accomplish here?”

“Gavin—“ Hank started to say.

“Just no Hank, back off alright! Who the fuck are you androids trying to replace this time, huh?” 

The question was clearly directed at Nines, but he didn’t quite know what to say even if he could. He could feel his artificial vocal cords tighten at the mere thought of responding to Reed’s clear accusations. 

But then he thought of a plan. 

Detective Reed, seemingly having not gotten a satisfactory response, opened his mouth to say something else when suddenly, a ringtone went off. 

_Ring...Ring...Ring_

It was the phone that Reed held in his hand, forgotten in the midst of his anger. He barely glanced at it before canceling the call. Then it started up again.

_Ring...Ring...Ri—_

He turned it off after the second ring. At this point, Connor was looking at Nines with a knowing glint in his eyes. 

_Ring..Ri—_

“Who the shit…” Reed starred indiscriminately at his phone. His face lit up and his head whipped up to stare at Nines. This time when the phone rang he put his phone up to his ear and accepted the call. 

“I advise you, detective, to be more conscientious about who you decide to insult. Of course, while it might not be me who will eventually take your job, you should be aware that if you continue to use your lawful waking hours to stare at your phone and accomplish nothing while on duty, then you will lose it.” 

That left Detective Reed in a state of shock it seems. His mouth opened as if to say more, but just as quickly closed shut. He silently hung up and returned to his desk, presumably to sulk if what he knew from Connor’s accounts held any truth to them. Both Hank and Connor looked at him in almost awe. 

“Holy shit, if I knew I could get Gavin to shut up by insulting him I would have done that a long time ago.” Hank brushed his hair out of his face and sighed. 

Connor let his shoulders relax and patted his hand on Hank’s back. “...I agree.” 

It was at that moment that the calm tension was shattered by none other than the captain of the police force himself, Jeffrey Fowler. 

“Hank, Connor, get the new kid over here stat! Stop messing with Reed or I’ll have to physically separate the lot of you!” The imposing figure of a man stood outside of his glass encased office with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Hank grumbled under his breath big reluctantly pushed the two androids in the direction of the shouting voice. 

“It’s now or never, kid.” Hank said as the three of them entered the captain’s office. 

Not even looking up, Fowler dismissed them. “Get out of here, this is an interview not a goddamn hearing. No not you—” He said that as Nines attempted to leave the room with the other two. “You get to stay here. God, these androids and their lack of social cues.” 

Connor left him one last reassuring smile as they walked over to their shared desk space, attempting to look like they weren’t trying to listen in, and failing miserably. 

Captain Fowler exhaled, sank into his large chair, and mindlessly shuffled some papers around. Nines took it as one of those aforementioned social cues and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. He attempted to appear at ease, but he thinks that it didn’t work according to the captain’s rising eyebrows. Nines took an unneeded breath in, and prepared himself for whatever may come next. 

Content with his readiness, Fowler asked the question he had been waiting for since he had woken up this very morning. But if he was being honest with himself, he had been waiting for it for a very long time. 

“So, what made you want to join the police force?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this almost 50k word fic is finally complete!!! This probably wasn't the best choice of first fanfic in the world, but I'm still happy with it nonetheless. Thank you to all of those who stuck out this far! I hope this sated your RK900 needs as much as it sated mine :D
> 
> (quick plug my tumblr is @twinkletalon if you wana talk detroit at me...see you on the flip side)


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